What Women Look Forward to at a Retreat
I recently did an informal survey among our women who regularly attend our retreats. One thing I wanted to find out was what they most look forward to in attending a ladies’ retreat. I loved the answer given by one of our ladies: “The best part of all retreats for me is when God shows up in some really personal and meaningful way.” Another woman added “I love the retreats because the Lord always either speaks to my heart, refreshes my soul and/or I get to see Him do this in another women’s life.” Many of those who responded referenced the time a retreat provides for them to seek God away from the distractions of a busy home life. To me, those answers sum up the purpose of a retreat–providing a time away from the distractions of “life” so that women can devote themselves to seeking and hearing from the Lord.
The informal survey gave women to opportunity to rate elements of the retreat in order of what was important to them. You might think that the women choose to attend the retreat based on the guest speaker or friends who are also attending. But those who come year after year were consistent in mentioning these as their top three:
- Time of worship
- Teaching and special speaker (“I want to get the meat of the Word at a retreat”)
- Promise verse (“I look forward to my promise scripture, because even if it doesn’t speak to me at that time, it always does within the year that it was given to me.”)
Consistently within the top five were: Workshops and quiet time, and Free time and fellowship.
What do you look forward to at your retreats?
