The 2020 Women’s Retreat was held at the Guntersville State Park Lodge over leap year weekend. The ladies who attended this year’s retreat were blessed with a speaker near and dear to Covenant’s heart. Jill Williams served as our Director of Youth and Families here at Covenant for ten years in the 1990s and 2000s. After that, she pursued a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary. Jill currently serves as Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Mission at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX, where she has served for the last twelve years. Jill gave us the opportunity to focus on friendship this year. What a wonderful topic to focus on! 

We learned about friendship from a biblical standpoint and looked at what we can learn from people who nurture friendship well. Jill said, “As relational human beings, we long for deep connection and to be known. Yet for many of us, having gratifying and lasting friendships is elusive. In the busyness of life, it is easy to put friendship on the back burner.” Jill shared with us the benefits of friendship for our mind, body and soul. Friendship is one of God’s greatest gifts. 

• 

• 

Over the course of the retreat, with friendship in mind, we focused on three spiritual practices: union with God (solitude), community of God’s people (community), and participation with God’s work in the world (service). We learned about and practiced the solitude, community, and service rhythms to teach us how to put them into practice in our lives. The practice of solitude, for most women, is so foreign to us that some of us were a little anxious about heading into a “Retreat of Silence” Saturday morning. It’s amazing what we can hear when we spend time genuinely listening to God! Jill’s teachings, our times of worship, and fellowship combined to make a renewing and rejuvenating weekend.

• 

• 

• 

We are already looking forward to next year’s retreat March 5-7, 2021! Mark your calendars, ladies!

Melissa Tucker