Dina Kennedy
Special to the Tribune/Weekend Advisor
Women from The Great Room enjoyed a three-day retreat in Lac La Hache recently.
Twelve women participated in the event with the theme Beautiful You.
Some women were attending a retreat for the first time.
Leaving their environment can be very scary for some women, but the welcoming of our hostesses and exploring their surroundings soon put them at ease.
Before bed we put on a pyjama beauty pageant.
The women came in their fun pyjamas, robes and slippers complete with facial masks and crazy hair. We had a real good laugh and it also reminded us that beauty really does come from within.
On Saturday local spa and beauty business owners and friends of The Great Room travelled to join us for the day by giving massages, manicures and making natural remedies.
I spoke about the Academy Awards and how the world focuses on the women and how they prepare for that evening doing their makeup and picking out the perfect outfit. We look at the nominees and see beauty but we do not see the extreme ways that they prepare themselves and their bodies for that special evening.
One retreat event was making a collage of positive words which the women shared with each other such as: “It’s simple, I’m complicated and messed up, but I can be healed from within.”
After dinner on Saturday night we put on a three-act skit called The Make Over. The main character is Needy Deedee.
She feels unlovely and unlovable and has a scar on her arm from past hurts.
She listens to the lies of the enemy and she decides to pursue self-improvement by what the Worldly Makeover Mall has to offer her.
In act three she shops at The New Creation Store. She finds out what God has to offer and how he can meet all of her needs.
On Sunday I shared how many of us mask our pain and insecurities. We can paint our faces but the scars that we carry and self-doubt are deep within us.
Coming face to face with our pain, our past, and our wounds brings us to place where we can choose to walk towards healing or remaining in the place of being wounded.
These journeys always amaze me.
At The Great Room I see women who have been deeply wounded find courage and compassion for each other as we hang out together. This place is always full of questions, laughter, tears, searching and healing. Each woman brings a story and we are given another glimpse of their beauty.
Dina Kennedy is the co-ordinator for The Great Room.