Agape Moms Leader Retreat

This weekend was simply amazing! 21 incredible women of God gathered together for our first annual leadership day retreat! Laura DiLeonardi had the joy of leading two nearly identical retreats for our TJC Women Min Team on Friday and then on Saturday, for Agape Moms Middle TN’s Tiny Tribe leaders and Mentor Moms.

The theme was Look In- Look Out- Look Up, based off Psalm 139, specifically focusing on verses 23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”‭‭

Psalm 139 is a beautiful display of David’s relationship with God and how God knows him, and us, so intimately and intricately. Jeremiah too was known by God before he was even made by God, and appointed for specific roles, just as we are! Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us the gospel and then immediately puts us on mission, uniquely as God’s masterpieces, to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.

The ministry God appoints us to is directly tied to how he uniquely made us, and so it’s no surprise that this is exactly how we are attacked. As women we often beat ourselves up over things we don’t like about ourselves and comparison is rampant. Yet God knit us together in our mother’s womb, he’s numbered the hairs on our heads and knows all we will say and do. What a tragic waste it is to have women stuck comparing themselves to other masterpieces instead of owning who God made us to be, even the parts we don’t like.

Jeremiah responded to God’s call in the most cringey, insecure way, immediately jumping to his excuses that he’s too young and doesn’t know how to speak. (Jer. 1:6) Do you also have your “one thing” you don’t like about yourself that serves as an excuse not to serve God in full confidence in the Lord? Instead of praying for God to remove the thorn in our flesh, we should take the lesson from Paul, who even though he pleaded with the Lord for him to remove it 3 times, God purposed it to keep him from becoming prideful and self-reliant. This changes how we pray, not for God to remove our insecurities, trials and insults, but for us to welcome them, for his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9.)

In order to maintain dependence and ministry effectiveness, we must continually ask God to search us and know us, test us and try us- to “look in” as Psalm 139:23-24 says. Just because we are in leadership doesn’t mean our hearts are automatically aligned with God’s, we must continually evaluate as we “look out” to others that our hearts hate what God hates and love what he loves (139-19-22.) As we “look up,” and depend on Christ in our weakness, he will “lead us in the way everlasting.”

This weekend:

We “looked in” by doing a spiritual gift and personality test, along with using it as a tool to shape our sanctification focus & leadership collaboration.

We “looked out” as we did a team building exercise helping us learn about those we are leading alongside and how our unique makeup complements each other. We prayerfully planned together for the upcoming ministry year!

We “looked up” with a teaching on Psalm 139 & Jeremiah 1, group prayer, worship and by ending with a silence and solitude hour.

I’m looking forward to seeing how God uses this amazing team of women who is wholly dependent on the Lord to use them for his glory this year! May he do exceedingly and abundantly more than we’d ever ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

Book Laura DiLeonardi to lead a women’s leadership retreat just like this by visiting her Speaking Page