GUEST SPEAKER
Laurel Hildebrandt

Laurel Hildebrandt is a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, driven by a deep desire to share the love of the Lord with everyone she encounters. Guided by the Lord, she seeks to help people find healing and wholeness in their lives. Laurel earned her Master’s degree in Theological Studies with a focus on Counseling from Trinity Western Seminary in 1995. Since then, she has maintained a successful private practice known as Wellspring Christian Counselling. In addition to her counseling work, Laurel is a published author and a dynamic speaker who enjoys sharing the message of God through preaching, teaching, workshops, and retreats.

laurelhildebrandt.com

God’s Warrior Princess

A few words from Laurel about the retreat theme and what to expect…

God’s Warrior Princess Retreat takes us on an exploratory journey beginning in Genesis. Session One starts with “Redemption” and who needs redemption. We will look at the extreme love of God for us as children of God, and as women of God. We will examine the questions of “Why does God love us so much”, “What are we being redeemed for and from?” and in particular to women, “How does “woman” fit into God’s redemption plan?” We explore the deep love that God has for us and how He “woo’s” us to Him. We will discover who we are in Christ and the role that we can play in the great adventure of being a part of the Bride of Christ!

Session Two takes a dive into the Biblical concept of us as “Warrior Princesses”. With the theme continuing on with the adventure that we are on with Christ we look at the fallen world after the Garden of Eden and the lies that we as a whole, and we as women, began to believe. We take a look at the void that is within each of us that God left there so that we would fill it with Him – yet how God left the choice of what we fill it with up to us, He extends the invitation to step into His truth of how He sees us.
“We don’t have to live life as one abandoned, one afraid, one trying to take control of life and be perfect in every way in order to fulfill our destiny. We weren’t called to be perfect. We weren’t called to be in control (of life). Women are busy. We run here and there “doing” so much. Why? Is it to control your life? To be perfect? To try to fit into that Proverbs woman perfection that is just really hard to live up to?” (Laurel Hildebrandt)

We take a look at what life can look like when we allow Jesus to be in control rather than us.
The Proverbs woman is examined. Living life victoriously in Christ is examined by looking at our core beliefs including some of the lies we believe and learning how to renounce those lies, announce God’s truth and resist the enemy (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9; Luke 10:18-19; Ephesian 6:10ff) being a true “warrior” for Christ and knowing who we are in Christ – children of the King of kings which makes us royalty, princesses, and emissaries for God.

Session Three looks closely at the “Redeemed Woman” and who we really are in Christ; what our identity is in Him. We are the bride of Christ as a part of the His church. We have the mark of God within us with His DNA as we are made in His image! (Genesis; Revelation 22). We continue on with the implicit command that Jesus gave us to love ourselves (Math 19:19) as we cannot love our neighbor as well as possible if we do not love ourselves. Taking a good look at the ideal love between a man and a woman as the ideal example of God’s love for us will help us see how valuable we are to God. Throughout we will look at the Song of Songs and the great love expressed by Solomon to the Shulamite, as God to us. We also take a look at the amazing woman Deborah the Prophetess who stood in the gap for the Israelite nation to win a war. We are called to be in tune with, in friendship with, in stride with, our beautiful Creator.
“Jesus draws a circle in the sand around Him and me (you)…A circle that cannot be erased. The circle symbolizes His unending love for us. Just like the wedding band circles our fingers, Christ Himself circles us. we are His beloved. No matter how stained we are He comes in. He swoops with His strong army, He risks all and He gave all, to rescue us.” (Laurel Hildebrandt)

Woven into the sessions is some original poetry and stories from Laurel that help us understand the adventure that we are on with Jesus.

Welcome to the adventure! I can’t wait to walk this weekend journey together with you!

In the grip of Christ,

Laurel Hildebrandt