2007 Women’s Retreat: Munich International Church

When my parents took me to see the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, for the first time, despite the radiant colors bursting through windows and gargoyles spewing, what made the greatest impression on me was a collection of enormous tapestries that told the David and Goliath story. As I stood gazing at the shepherd boy holding up the huge, bleeding head with one hand, I studied the embroidery work and imagined the months, perhaps years, required to make such a creation. The scenes before me would have amounted to nothing meaningful until every thread was finally in place and the textiles hung in sequence.

Our lives on earth are a little bit like that. We inhabit half-finished stories in the middle of a narrative. Until God completes the tale, we have only threads and knots on the back side and a jumbled mess of seemingly disconnected details. We lack the full picture.

Still, knowing God’s character and looking at the events we’ve endured, we can see enough to trust that some day it will all make sense. My own story along with those of several biblical women and two psalms of lament, gives me enough of a glimpse at God’s overall story that I can trust, even while I live in the world of the fragments, scraps, and knots. And you can, too….

Audio From The Retreat

My Story
Each of us is a story of God’s faithfulness. My story of jumbled threads is about “The Seven Times I Told God ‘I’ll Never…’ and How I Had to Eat My Words.”

Rachel and Leah’s Story
Two sisters competing to have the most kids demonstrate that even the black cord of sin cannot thwart God’s purposes (Gen. 29:30–30:24).

Esther’s Story
The immortal, invisible protagonist takes a fearful foreigner trying to hide her Jewish identity and transforms her into a courageous queen (Book of Esther).

Praying the Lament Psalms/The Story of the Woman with the Issue of Blood
The psalms of lament (the red threads of suffering) help us talk to God while we live in the “not yet”; and the gold thread of faith, as seen in “the woman with the issue of blood,” serves as a shining contrast against the darkness (Mark 5:25–34).
“Your life in Christ can be the greatest story ever told.”

Message Texts