Deeper Immersion! Desiring the better!

2011 Leadership Team Retreat
April 8 – 10, 2011

Message from Kelly:

After much review of material for this retreat, I found myself with great material from many different spiritual leaders such as Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren, Beth Moore, Lysa TerKeurst and Andy Stanley. Encountering each brought on the uneasy feelings that the Lord was calling for more than the material I had initially planned to use for this retreat – Breaking Free by Beth Moore. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Breaking Free material by Beth Moore is absolutely fabulous and we will be using some of the material. However, God was calling my heart towards a specific focus of deep desires. When I was thinking about titling this retreat I kept thinking about going deeper. I struggled with titling the retreat because every time I thought about the word “deeper” my mind kept going back to the “Deepening our Walk” slogan that Ladies for Jesus holds. However, the uneasy feelings continued as I thought about leaving it there. It was at this moment in which I laid my head back, closed my eyes and prayed this simple prayer, “Lord, tell me what YOU want this retreat to be titled.” He then immediately told me, “Deeper Immersion!” The title seemed odd to me at first, but I knew that the Lord had spoken. So out of curiosity I looked up the synonyms to immersion and that is when I found such words like: concentration, engagement, fascination, intentness, absorption. These pointed to where the Lord has been leading me with this retreat over the last few weeks. Images of Jesus at Martha and Mary’s home made me think of how Jesus commended Mary for “choosing what was better” which was seeking and desiring to be at the feet of Jesus above all else. So I said to myself, “Could it be at this point in the Ladies for Jesus ministry that the Lord is calling us to be more intent in desiring Him?” We know Ladies for Jesus is a special ministry and each one of us feels the great bond He has created between us all. Is He calling for us to assist each other in desiring Him at a deeper level? Is He calling for us to discover what we desire more than Him? These questions are ones that are not only worth looking into, but need to be answered as we continue our ministry for Him. I know He is going to bless us as we engage in the understanding of our desires and seek a Deeper Immersion!

                                                                                                In Christ,
                                                                                                Kelly Dixon