Retreat Recap! We made it to year 10! Woohoo!!

And a FABULOUS year it was! The 2011 NCF Steadfast Love Girls retreat was a smashing success! As the leadership team continues to grow and change, each year presents a new opportunity for us to fall on our knees and pray that God would do the work He loves to do and use us as His instruments of love in the lives of the girls He brings to our doors. For various reasons, this year was different than past years. But as the retreat unfolded before us, we watched God answer many, many prayers. The Steadfast Love Retreat was exactly that: a time of true, deep rest and renewal of confidence in God's steadfast love for each one of us. We set the stage for the retreat using the idea of a mountain fortress to give the girls a visual picture of how God's steadfast love surrounds us and protects us and provides a safe haven for us as His children. Each team leader chose a verse about God's steadfast love and decorated their team table with the ideas from that verse.
The retreat started out, as is our custom, with a session to lay the foundation - salvation from our sinfulness through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus! Without this foundation, the rest of what we share and teach and why we worship doesn't make sense. Shaina & Mackenzie Smith invested time and energy putting together a video to share this message of God's steadfast love in salvation with the girls on Sunday night. It was incredibly powerful as it combined the words of truth with captivating visual elements. It stirred many hearts and set the tone for the rest of our time together. Over the course of the retreat (with not a single altar call ;) we saw 4 girls give their hearts to the King of Kings and begin new relationships with Jesus, and watched many others find renewal in their relationships with Him! As leaders, it was a joy and privilege to see God use the time we had planned to draw the girls hearts close to Him in repentance and forgiveness, and to see the joy and confidence in their faces as they began to walk in the new love they had found.

Our days were filled with times of deep and joyful worship led by talented musicians, morning dance exercises with Amber, fun and CRAZY games with the Jessicas (including, but not limited to, teams racing to see who could finish a half gallon of ice cream the fastest, and unbelievable amounts of shaving cream :), making flower pens to send as gifts with the Thailand girls retreat team and creating awesome headbands during our craft time with Sheneka, swimming and playing and catching naps during free time, daily showers at the Smith's, Montanye's, and Murphy's (Thank you!!), and all sorts of yummy food that Tina & Lydia set out for us! (not to mention the 7 bajillion kinds of junk food that girls brought to share :)

At retreat, Tuesday night is "Special Night", where we have all the girls take their stuff out of the sanctuary, and head off for games and showers. When they come back, they are dressed and ready for a special theme, and the sanctuary has been transformed into a beautiful masterpiece with an equally beautiful dinner awaiting them. This is our unique opportunity to pray for and bless the girls and remind them that they are beautiful and loved. Alyce Loeser shared with us that night from her life experience a beautiful story of God's endless grace and steadfast love that will never let us go and always pursues us, no matter what. God couldn't have planned a better ending to bring us full circle in the theme of His steadfast love! We gave each of the girls a necklace made with leather and a river rock - a small gift to remind them that God's love is steadfast and immovable like a rock. We ended the night celebrating His love for us with more worship, dancing and brownies and ice cream!

Wednesday morning, after packing up and cleaning the church, we give the girls a chance to share with us and each other what they learned or how their lives were affected through the retreat. As parents come to pick up their girls, they get the chance to hear a little bit of the big and beautiful work that God has done. They get to see their daughters worship with their whole hearts. And we, the leaders, watch and pray that God will continue to raise up new leaders from these precious girls to continue on this work in the future. We used to be those girls, and we are eternally grateful for the way God has used the NCF girls retreats in our own lives. We have seen God open doors to minister to girls in Guatemala and now Thailand. And we know that God will continue to glorify Himself in the work of the NCF girls retreats! We are blessed beyond measure by the prayers and support of the body of Christ at NCF. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of making this ministry possible.

2010 Girl's Retreat | Preparation

The NCF Girl's Retreat starts on Sunday.

This is the ninth time we've done this. It's the same every year. We work, we plan, we pray. We open our hearts to the work of the Spirit in us so that the hand of God can work through us. We stay up late, and we get up early. We juggle and rearrange all the various parts of our insane lives, shuffling and reorganizing chaos to make time to retreat. We raise our voices in praise to God and against the Enemy. We wage war against sin and deceit, determined to allow the Peace of Christ to rule and the Word of Christ dwell.

We are not professionals. Not even close to it. We are simply a group of women who love Jesus.

We are teachers and listeners, college students and aspiring business owners, sisters, lovers, and friends. We are women who love, who live with purpose, and who are committed to the kingdom of God in our own hearts. We are nothing special, nothing extraordinary.

But we know our God.

On Saturday, the leadership team will join together for prayer and preparation. On Sunday, the girls arrive. And for the next four days, we will spend every waking minute speaking and receiving Truth, joining forces against the Enemy, and saying over and over again, in a million and one different ways, that our God can be trusted.

Tonight we are full of joyful anticipation and sincere prayer, looking forward to the work of God in the hearts of the 50+ girls in attendance.


Pray for us, please, if you think of it.


If you would like more information about this retreat:
NCF Girl's Retreat Blog: www.ncfgirlsretreat.blogspot.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ncfgirlsretreat
New Covenant Fellowship website: www.newcovfellowship.com

I will be posting quotes from sessions on my Twitter account, sorted by hashtags: #ncfgirlsretreat

2010 - Reflecting His Beauty - Registration Open!

It's hard to believe that it's already that time of year again when God starts bringing everything together and getting us ready for another A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. girls retreat at New Covenant Fellowship!

We hope that you all can come out and find yourself refreshed by the presence of God and the fun and fellowship of other girls.

For quick reference,
WHO: all girls ages 13 and up!

WHERE: New Covenant Fellowship in Nottoway, VA

THE DATES: June 13-16, 2010

Read the flier for all the details!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLIER/REGISTRATION FORM!!!

You girls are in our prayers,

Lindsey (for the leadership team)

NCF Girl's Retreat | 2009 Slideshow

2009 NCF GIRLS RETREAT!!!!

Hey Girls!! It's that time again...
and now you can download the registration form!!
the 8th annual NCF Girls Retreat:
{PRESSING FOR THE PRIZE}
JUNE 7-10, 2009
Check out all the info here:
http://www.nowyouarelight.com/docs/flyer09.pdf

If you have any problems, email us at ncfgirlsretreat@gmail.com

Hope you can join us! Praying for you!

A New Journal

I just finished the first entry in a new journal. I love new journals. I find excitement and anticipation in flipping through 200 blank pages, knowing that in 3 months every one will have words on them. It didn't used to be that way. I used to take more than a year to fill a small journal. But my journaling habits took a dramatic change a couple of years ago when I overheard a friend talking about her journals, that her entries were letters to God, more like prayers and honest reflection than a diary. At the time, she was 25 and just starting her 25th journal.

Such a simple thing-- journaling to God-- was a brand new idea to me. I included God in my journal, to be sure, but as an afterthought. "My day was... and this happened... God would you..." I decided to try my friend's method, and began each entry with "Dearest Father..." It was a breath of fresh air, and it brought new depth and purpose to my devotional times with God.

Yes, I just started a new journal, which makes me think of the events that will fill the next few months-- mostly, the unknown events. When I started my last journal, I had absolutely no idea what God would do in me as I filled those pages. Changed relationships, changed perspectives, changed jobs, changed worldview, changed dreams. I had some pretty well-established dreams and ideals in June, and they are completely different now.

Then I think of the plans I have for the upcoming months-- five weddings to shoot, portrait sessions, starting my own business, visiting friends, the holidays, weddings to attend and participate in, etc. This journal will be full. I'll probably ring in the New Year with it. I might last through the end of January... maybe.

There's a lot happening in the next few months. I can't wait to see how God changes me, what "theme" this journal will hold, what circumstances He drops in my lap. He likes to surprise me.

So much to look forward to. So many areas to trust God. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Glimpses of Self

"It is a good day to me when Thou givest me a glimpse of myself." This is one of my favorite quotes from the book The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotionals, by Arthur Bennett. God has given me many glimpses of myself in the past several weeks, and I'm learning a lot about myself. These lessons are very good, and very painful at the same time.

I'm just learning that my insides aren't as clean as I thought.
That my love isn't as pure as I thought.
That my mind is more deceitful than I thought.
That my motivations are more selfish than I thought.
And that God is incredibly more gracious and faithful than I thought or expected.

These are good lessons. Any time I see the depth of my own depravity and sinfulness I'm grateful. It hurts, because, once again, it shows how far away from God I really am, and how much farther away I have the capacity to go. But it is always good, because God's grace is what shows me my sin and draws me back to Him.

This week I began reading through Song of Solomon in the Amplified Bible. I love to read this version every once in a while because it reminds me that Scriptre has depth as well as breadth, and it challenges me to dig and press on and pursue a greater knowledge of Christ and His Word.

As I've read through Song of Solomon this time, I actually paid attention to the footnotes, which are, in fact, questions as opposed to notes. They challenge me to examine my heart and my relationship with Christ. I've included the questions below, along with the corresponding excerpts from Songs.
__________________________________________

Tell me, O You whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flocks... Songs 1:7
Does my spirit crave the Divine Shepherd, even in the presence of the best that the wold can offer me?

I can feel His left hand under my head and His right hand embraces me! Songs 2:6
Do I have a constant sense of my Shepherd's presence, regardless of my surroundings?

Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away. Songs 2:13
Do I take time to meet my Good Shepherd each day, letting Him tell me of His love, and cheering His heart with my interest in Him?

Let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. Songs 2:14
Do I realize that my voice lifted in praise and song is sweet to Him, or do I withhold it?

Take for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards [of our love], for our vineyards are in blossom. Songs 2:15
What is my greatest concern, the thing about which most of all I want Christ's help? When He asks to hear my voice, what do I tell him?

Come away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from... the lion's dens, from the mountains of the leopards. Songs 3:8
Do I heed Christ when He bids me to come way from the lions' den of temptation and dwell with Him?

Oh, I pray that the [cold] north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for You in whom my soul delights]. Songs 4:16
Am I willing to have the north wind of adversity blow upon me, if it will better fit me for Christ's presence and companionship?

[But weary from a day in the vineyards, I had already south my rest] I had put off my garments-- how could I [again] put them on? Songs 5:3
In my weariness from earthly cares, do I hesitate to answer when the Divine Shepherd knocks at my door, and so turn Him from me?

His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, He is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious]. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, o daughters of Jerusalem. Songs 5:16
Is my Savior unquestioningly the One altogether lovely, the One above all others most precious to me? Can I tell how and why Christ is more to me than any human being or than all earthly possessions?