BIG NEWS

BIG NEWS! We are excited to announce a new addition to the resources now available at the Retreat-in-a-Bag website. Up until now, resources on the website have focused on everything retreat (including themed events) and skits. As of May 1, 2024, we now offer women’s Bible studies that we have written through our church women’s ministry.

We have found that purchasing studies from retail outlets is not only expensive, but the options are limited: 

• Very few had the right number of lessons to correspond to the length of time scheduled for our study; 
• Many were geared to either the serious Bible student or the casual learner–but not both;
• Some were simply books which had a chapter to read with questions at the end, so that our women were getting someone else’s opinion before digging into the Word for themselves; 
• Many were geared toward their accompanying video teachings.

Our desire was to focus on a book of the Bible, a chapter of the Bible or a specific section of scripture and do a verse-by-verse study. We wanted something that would challenge our experienced Bible study women and yet keep the interest of those not as acquainted with doing regular Bible homework. For those reasons, we began to write some of our own studies. 

This month, you will get a weekly blog detailing some of what we have to offer. If you are like us, we are alway planning for our next women’s study. Check out our offerings for yourselves at https://www.retreatinabag.net/available-womens-bible-studies. 

Elasticity

I often hear talk about the need for flexibility in leadership–flexibility being defined as being adaptable and responsive to change as opposed to being rigid. Elasticity has a similar but slightly definition: it describes a quality that enables a substance to change its length, volume, or shape in direct response to a force effecting such a change and to recover its original form upon the removal of the force.

If God has called you into leadership, you can pretty much count on the truth that He wants to stretch you.  He wants to stretch your faith muscles.

There are those times when God puts us under pressure. It is as if we are the silly putty and God is the one doing the stretching. Sometimes He stretches us by putting us in situations that require love and patience. Sometimes He stretches us by allowing us to be irritated by some individual. Sometimes God stretches us through some temptation that comes our way. Or we find ourselves in a situation that really causes a lot of frustration, which in turn stretches us.

But here is the question. If God is stretching us, what is His end game? Is He just allowing us to get stretched out of shape so we will be some distorted Christian? I see a lot of distorted Christians. These are Christians who actions and words do not appear to be Christian at all. To be honest God is not trying to cause distortion in our lives. He purpose is to make us more Christ-like. When He stretches us, He is showing us areas of our life that are not like Christ. He is chiseling on us and pulling on us to make us look more like Christ.

Wisdom in Location

Is it hard to find

Are the roads under construction?

Resources: Free and Premium

What is the difference between “free” and “premium” resources?

As time went by, much of the general information included in the books had been covered in some form or fashion on the website blog.  So, we created “retreat guides” which include only theme-related material.