Jana Spicka and Women Getting Real Ministries
Posts tagged hearing from God
Yes and Amen Retreat
May 20th
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.“
2 Corinthians 1:20
Friday, April 13 through Sunday, April 15, 2012
We are going to use this “get away from the world time” to talk about:
What are God’s dreams for us?
What does He see for our lives, and our futures?
What has He already said, “Yes and Amen” to that we just don’t know about yet?
How do women get Un-stuck?
False expectations and demands around food, sex, beauty, and love (and the Lord only knows what else…) What lifts women up?
Rest and release in the love of God.
Freedom to use our voice and heart.
Letting go of the need to control.
Join us for this unique retreat held at Smoky Mountain Christian Village. A beautiful complex out of the traffic zone of Pigeon Forge, TN
All Weekend Packages Include:
- Five sessions of Teaching and Materials with Jana Spicka
- 2 Night’s Lodging in a large and spacious chalet. It has three floors of bedrooms, bathrooms, play areas, dining and kitchen on each floor. Check in 3pm, check out 11am. Heated pool and nature trails on site.
- Four Meals and Snacks. Breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday morning. (Friday night dinner is on your own before first session.)
This is an intimate gathering limited to 50 women. So don’t wait to register. Payment plans are available please ask about them.
Click here to hear a testimony from one of last years attendees.
Women Getting Real Weekly Class
Apr 5th
This is a great place to go deeper into relationship with Jesus and other women. Both seem scary we know. But this is a place where we talk about real life topics and look for God to show up in the middle of our lives. 
The class is for all ages and does not require perfect attendance. Or homework.
Join us in person at Fellowship Church on Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville,TN every Tuesday night from 7:00pm – 9:00pm (childcare is provided for those who register).
For specific details around the class please feel free to email us at info@womengettingreal.com.
We meet three weeks on and one week off. Dates of class are listed below. We are planning to Livestream at least once month. So stay tuned for those details. Be sure to sign up for RSS or Facebook alerts so you don’t miss out on “Monday Snack Time with Jana”, its a weekly vlog.
Class Dates for Spring Semester 2011: April 5, 19, 26; May 3, 17, 24, 31
(new class location coming soon, stay tuned for details)
To hear audio from classes up until now check out our archived classes
Playing in the Sand
Jan 8th
I do it a lot. Act like God is not with me. I get myself in wads and then whine, complain, quit or cope. Instead of simply turning to Them and asking for truth, or help, or just understanding.
I don’t simply stop very often.
But yesterday I did. The wind was blowing fierce on the beach and I sat beside a storage shed to get some shelter. As I was sitting there, I started running my fingers through the white, sugar-like sand. I realized, though, I was still running the autopilot list in my head of stuff to process, fix and resolve.
It was a paradox. Child-like playing in the sand. Grown up stressing in my head. And the Lord asked me, “Write in the sand.”
“What should I write?” I asked.
“How about all that stuff in your head?” (Yes of course He already knows it.) So I wrote out a short list of the needs I had.
“Great. I got all that. Now wipe that away.”
One movement of my hand, it was erased.
“Now, do it again.”
This went on for several lists. Physical needs, material needs. People I was praying for, events coming up. Each time, the reassurance came that He had this taken care of, each time came the instruction to wipe it away.
Then there was a quiet calm. As I sat there for a few minutes and JUST played in the sand, two powerful things happened. One was a simple reflection. Wonder what I wrote last year? He had indeed wiped all those things away. He had over time resolved, provided, and advanced each the issues that pressured me last year. Would this year be any different?
The second thing was a very, very real awareness of His presence. As I played, the wind lifted and shifted the sand smoothing and scattering my doodles. I looked to my right, and the wind was lifting and shifting other little mounds of sand.
“I like playing in the sand too.”
Sometimes you have to stop the noise to hear the roar of the ocean. Sometimes you have to sit and play to remember that you are His child. Sometimes you have to give stuff to Him and let Him blow away all the distractions and just be with Him.
Oh to sit in the delight of the One who thinks of us, more than the grains of the sand.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 139:17-18
Follow the Sun
Oct 14th
I have this way of doing life. It has its similarities and routines. I go through motions without even thinking sometimes. I can do my God life like that too. Do you know what I mean? Reading, listening, even praying in a kind of auto pilot sort of way? I can do life without absorbing the beauty around me.
This morning the Lord ever so sweetly turned my attention to Him. I was driving in my old familiar route doing errands and I kept noticing the sunrise. It was amazing with its pinks and purples. When I got back in my car to head home, the same way I always go, I kept getting this urge to look at the sky. As I was driving, I had this moment to choose to go home the same old way, or to go a different way and enjoy the sunrise. In a split second I chose the new way. When I pulled onto the interstate, the sun came up as a vibrant orange red ball on the horizon.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. Like out of body, awestruck, don’t know how to process this much beauty, kind of beautiful.
As I was soaking in the wonder, I heard, “Always follow the beauty of the Son.”
My prayer for you today is that God will show you the new choices you can make. And I pray that you will have the faith, courage, and desire to take new paths that will enable you to see the beauty of the Son. Amen.
Delight in Us
Oct 11th
Have you ever noticed that when you love someone, you also love to surprise, delight and “bless” them? By bless, I mean to bring joy or make happy, to bestow gladness of heart. It’s fun for them and that makes it fun for you.
So when God says all throughout the Bible that He loves us and delights in us, it means that HE gets pleasure out of making us happy, bringing us joy, bestowing gladness upon our hearts. He wins, we win. I love the way God does math.
Yesterday I was reflecting on the word “delight” which is what He gave me at the beach. And within one hour I received three random God stories to give evidence of His delight. Three different women, one loving God.
One woman was having a hard day and just shot up an arrow prayer. “I just asked Jesus for a kiss,” said my friend. She got this a few minutes later.
And her response? “Oh how I love Him!” Blessing bring devotion. Delight makes happy the heart, especially His delight poured into our hearts.
My other friend had been stressing about a party she was giving. She was relating to the Lord her concern about the cost of the gifts, favors, and the restaurant. And what did she get in her email inbox ten minutes later? A coupon that would drop her meal cost by 50%. Wow. She was thrilled at His provision for a place she had reserved weeks ago. “He’s so intimately acquainted, so sweet!” was her delighted response.
My third story is about a friend who “went looking for God” and thought she came home empty-handed with just a shell and few photos. “I was a little disappointed” she told me on the phone when I asked about her date weekend with Lord. But then the pieces started coming together. Here it is in her words:
“I have been thinking about this shell and talking to HIM about its meaning and I’m just undone. I had asked, “How do you see me”?
He said, “Most people see a closed heart with barnacle scars. But I see a huge heart and beautiful colors just waiting to be revealed.”
I asked HIM to show me He loved me and He gave me this heart- this broken heart. HE reassured me that HE knows my heart is broken. HE knows I feel rejected, unworthy, alone and forgotten. He revealed His beauty to me, kissed my cheek and reminded me of all the wonderful work HE is doing inside my clamped shut, sand-filled, barnacled scarred heart.
He is so good and I am undone.”
Delight is a two way street. There is both a giver and receiver. And both hearts are made glad by the connection. Delight yourself in Him for He greatly delights in you. Selah.
