A few months ago I wrote about community and specifically about the opportunity to grow in community on our annual women’s beach retreat. A few weeks ago we were able to go on this retreat and this is a brief synopsis of what it looked like and what we learned from sharing space and time with each other for a weekend.

Over the course of this weekend we were able to learn several things about one another and about God, in His infinite glory and grace.

Leigh Ellen Rodriguez shared about how God has been teaching her and her husband, through the death of their son, how good of a God we have. In fact, GodIsSuperGood.com is the website that their son Mark created to share his understandings of God’s word and encouragement through his wisdom.

Leigh Ellen shared how God has become and wants to be our anchor. She asked us a few questions.

What does it look like for God to be our anchor?

Where do we need an anchor, the shore or the deep?

What keeps us from really trusting God to be our anchor?

When we are being tossed by the waves do we still feel safe in our Father’s arms? Why or why not?

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

Hebrews 6:19

As we sat at the beach (which made the topic feel even more appropriate) and watched the waters ebb and flow with the tide. We felt the wind, saw the fierce waves, experienced the still shore and we also heard about how God uses others to remind us that He is our strong anchor. All the things we cling to, money, kids, image, coffee, phones etc., to hold us in place when things are hard - we saw clearly that none of them will hold. We need our community, our friends to remind us of this truth. God did not ask us to stand alone in these hard places.

I watched as women who didn’t know one another well, or at all, engage in conversation. They laughed, joked and shared. I was so thankful to see how God showed up with us.

On the last day of the retreat we did some sharing as a group; it was refreshing to hear how God had used these informal conversations to draw women to one another. One woman commented that she was getting to hear authentic conversations about how the other women were doing; not just about how great the kids were doing or what car they were driving. Hearing her and others speak about what God showed them through the weekend was a huge gift. The blessing of how the Holy Spirit is working in us to draw us together instead of what we often do which is to separate and be isolated in fear of judgment.

I hope that wherever you are in your journey with Christ that you can see Him as your anchor.  I hope you that you are able to see how God will use others to show you this. If you are struggling with this, find one safe person, a pastor or a staff member or another person that you can be safe with and share a little bit of yourself. You may be surprised to see how God will use you in their life and how He can become your anchor a little bit more fully each day.

In Him,

Cara