Last Sunday, Rachel shared about the recent Learning Contentment women’s conference that a number of our Trinity Grace women attended.
This is what she shared:
We have recently returned from Cornerstone Church of Knoxville’s Women’s conference. It was such a sweet time to be with our Athens friends and our Cornerstone friends. Cornerstone takes hospitality to the next level. All attendees received a book, a lovely gift, snacks, brunch, ample fellowship time, and dynamic speakers to encourage us to learn contentment and be deeply satisfied in the will of God.
Jani Ortland, a pastor’s wife, walked us through Psalm 62:1 - “My soul finds rest in God alone.” We learned of true godliness as contentment’s companion. Julie Lowe, with the heart of a counselor, exposed envy as contentment’s archenemy. While many of us strive to avoid grief and suffering, she taught us they are contentment’s classroom. The final session exhorted us to be content in God’s design for us.
There were pages of notes of truth from these speakers and scripture. We, as a community of women, walked through humor, pondering, and tears as we reflected on learning contentment. One of the speakers regularly used this phrase… “Let’s be women who…” This phrase resonated with me. Not only were we personally encouraged and challenged, but we were invited to join in community with our sisters in Christ to become a culture of Christians who live out a life of godliness and contentment.
This focus on community tied in beautifully with a recent devotion quoted from Journey to the Cross. “This is why community is such an essential context for true repentance. Our friends and family can see our blind spots, and we need them to tell us. We need a community where it is okay to talk about our struggle against temptation and sin, how sin is wrecking our lives, and how our brokenness causes us to look for worth and joy and peace outside of God. Can we talk about these things without condemning each other, or condoning sin? Can we talk about our problems without someone always fixing it with the ”solutions”? Can we weep with those who weep, and pray for those who are struggling?”
It was a treat to have this extended time of fellowship, both scheduled by the conference planners and by carpooling. We were able to experience learning together and conversing about it. We also shares in silly moments of sleep deprivation while carpooling and enduring traffic woes. The whole weekend was a wonderful step towards learning more about each other and develop new friendships.
Thank you men for the encouragement and childcare you provided to make this a meaningful weekend!
If you are interested in learning contentment or were unable to attend the conference, listen to the messages here:
Session 1—Treasuring Christ: Contentment's Rare Jewel (Jani Ortlund)
Session 2—True Godliness: Contentment's Companion (Jani Ortlund)
Session 3—Envy: Contentment's Archenemy (Julie Lowe)
Session 4—Grief & Suffering: Contentment's Classroom (Julie Lowe)
Session 5—Fearlessly Feminine: Content in God’s Design (Jani Ortlund)