What do you get when you put 70 Christian ladies together for a weekend to learn about God?

So this weekend my church had a ladies retreat.  We stayed at the most gorgeous lodge in Danbury (yes, Danbury.  Who knew?) and stayed Friday and Saturday nights.  The subject was about our spiritual gifts God's equipped us with.  It's funny how you can hear something your whole life and never really realize how true/deep/important it is.  I've always known that everyone has spiritual gifts.  For me, when I think spiritual gifts I think of 1 Corinthians 14 and the gifts listed in that chapter.  Then I pretty much give up on figuring out mine because the things listed in this chapter don't fit me at all!  How can I apply something so old to myself now?  Well, we did a 'spiritual gift test' where you score statements 1-5, 1 being that you least agree, 5 being that you most agree.  Unfortunately we were told to try not to use number 3.  Ugh.  So after answering 108 questions, I realized that my spiritual gift is mercy.  Hmm, sounds about right honestly.  There were other gifts such as teaching, evangelising, encouraging, etc.  I had to wonder; teaching Sunday school, would that be the gift of teaching, or mercy?  Or both??  So, what else did I learn?  I learned that just because I wasn't gifted at evangelising, doesn't mean I'm a failure as a Christian, or not as good as so-and-so, That just wasn't my gift.  That being said though, just because it's not my gift doesn't mean I shouldn't try to grow in that area.  Or in the other areas in which are not my predominant gifts.  But I shouldn't try so hard to grow in other areas that I neglect or belittle the gift God HAS given me because it's "not enough". 

I learned that I am truly at home in my church and that I love the people I worship with.  But that to say I love everyone and really mean it, I had to LOVE EVERYONE.  I had to let go of past offenses, and even make amends, before I could really be all God has called me for in my church.  It was hard to admit my sin to a fellow Christian.  I was afraid to hurt this person.  I realized that my offense to them was started by a tiny seed of doubt and insecurity, and I fueled the fire until it became sinfully all consuming.  I had so much bitterness toward this person for reasons that weren't true, that this person didn't deserve, that the only way I could right things was to confess my sin to myself, to God, and to this person, and then to ask forgiveness.  As I did this, I cried and felt a weight lift off of my shoulders and not only was the bitterness and self-inflicted pain removed, it was replaced with love and admiration. 

No wonder I didn't feel right with God.  How can you be close to God and still hold a grudge?  You can't.  I'm excited to see what happens now that I've repented and turned from that sin and turned to God.  So what happens when you put 70 Christian ladies together for a weekend to learn about God?  A spiritual growth spurt.

Please carefully read through 1 Corinthians 13 and ask yourself if there's anyone you don't love the way God intended you to.