Tammy and Pastor Orleen
I just returned from one of the best weekends I have ever had. 150+ women and their friends attending our Maranatha Assembly of God women’s retreat. The retreat was held at Rutger’s Sugar Lake Lodge in Grand Rapids, MN. We had a fun filled weekend of worship and praise and girlfriend bonding. There was a mechanical bull, lots of workshops, a great banquet dinner and a dance party Saturday night. On Saturday I took 10 women ice fishing and gave spear fishing lessons. We didn’t catch or spear any fish but we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day. It was warm and comfortable out on the ice. Everyone had a great time.
For privacy reasons, I am not going to post any other photos. Retreats are a place where we can deal with our past problems, issues, pain and celebrate our relationship with Christ. The focus of this retreat was forgiveness. I learned that we must forgive everyone that has hurt us in our lives…. I have held on to a little bit of bitterness in my life from relationships that ended with deception and infidelity. Forgiving that person does not make them right but it set me free. That is something about life that we all must understand. We cannot force people to live in a godly way. We cannot force them to be honest or faithful. But we can forgive people without judgement and move on with our lives.
Do you harbor unforgiveness in your life? Try letting go of that today and thanking God for all the really great things in your life. You will be set free and will be enjoying a life of happiness and fullfillment. Self pity and judgement are two character traits we have all experienced at one time or another. Too many of us focus so hard on the future that we miss all the blessings in our lives today. Open your heart, clean out the bitterness and think about being free of all that baggage.
Have a great day and LIVE LIFE!!! LOVE LIFE!!!
Love to you all!!!
Tammy