"WOMEN'S INTEREST"
The Ladies Retreat sponsored by the women from the Nitro Church of Christ was wonderful. Those attending from the Springdale congregation were Velda Akers, Karla Cook and Rita Wood. I think I can speak for all three of us that we had a great time. On Friday there was so much food it was unbelievable. Everything was homemade and very good! There were BBQ's, several different kinds of sandwiches, fruit and vegetable trays, chips and dip, all kinds of pop, water, and of course our favorite part-DESSERTS! One of the ladies made 30 pies! We sampled several of those and had a few brownies and other things. We were definitely on a sugar high. We were also served a hot breakfast on Saturday morning and lunch before we left.
Friday evening we had singing and played the Elephant gift exchange, which was a lot of fun. Some of the gifts were hilarious. As kind of an ice breaker, we were all given a calendar for the month of April. On each day of the month was a description of the many women at the retreat. For example there was a day for "Someone from Springdale", a day for Someone who like to do crafts, and so on. We had to find someone there that fit the description and get them to sign the square for that day. It was a great way to meet the other women. The object of this activity was to fill the calendar with names and to pray for the person on the day that they had signed their name. We all know the power of prayer and this way we would be praying for someone extra every day of the month. Even though we may not know what their needs may be, God does.
Saturday was filled with more singing and prayer request from all the congregations. And the speaker was absolutely wonderful. Anita Sridharan (Daniel's aunt) presented "PRIMP, PUTTER, & PRAISE".
The Theme verse: "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Proverbs 14:1 NIV. The objective of the class was to empower women, boost self-esteem and to give tools to improve your marriage. She taught on how we can improve our marriage and family life by first improving ourselves, inwardly and outwardly. We need to ask God to help us to speak and think positively. show love and commitment to our family (spouse) in some tangible way every day. We need to pass up golden opportunities to criticize and actively choose kindness.
"The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit." Proverbs 15:4 Words can break, debilitate and devastate or they can heal, regenerate and lift one up. We need to pray, pray, pray everyday for God's guidance. The class was very helpful and uplifting. Everyone was provided with a folder which included the outline and information regarding the class. In the folder was also a Biblography of the books used in Anita's research to prepare for her presentation and there were a couple that she highly recommended for each of us to read.
Stormie Omartian. (2007). Praying Through the Deeper Issues of Marriage
Sharon Jaynes. (2007). The Power of A Woman's Words.
If you would like a complete list of the books, please let me know. Anita is also the author of her own book.."Firecracker Frolic". Hilarious Tales of a Mischievous Kid. It is the true story of four outlandishly mischievous preacher's kids who turn a retirement community and their church inside out with light-hearted pranks and good old-fashioned fun.
I hope everyone will consider going to the retreat next year. It will be held the first weekend of April.
Thank you to the ladies from the Nitro Church of Christ for a great weekend!!!!
If there is any information you would like to have on the Women's Interest page please email me at:
Rita Wood