wow, sounds really dodgy to me.
i worry yr room mate actually went a bit mad and that's why she liked it afterwards.
like people being kidnapped falling in love with their kidnappers because they get a bit screwed up.
u always have to be careful about who you give control to, that's why proverbs 4:23 says 'guard your heart, it is the wellspring of life'.
Hm, that's an interesting point. I don't really know if there was anything psychologically going on with her, but I love the use of the verse you quoted. I went into the weekend NOT knowing anything about the ministers and leaders who were there. Not to say that I should write them off completely, but I basically had to trust that this collection of people were making the right choices for me and my situation.
I would feel comfortable going to a retreat that was just through my church or through a "sister church" or something like that. But that's just me.
Like I said, the "bombardment of love" was a little off-putting. Here's another detail of my walk that I felt conflicted about for a very long time:
On the second day, they gave us this bag filled with "gifts." There were gifts everywhere: on our beds, night tables, and on our tables. These presents were supposed to make us feel special and loved. They have a LOT of volunteers, and a lot of them either typed out a verse on a piece of paper and attached a piece of candy to it. Some of them were flimsy plastic toys, stuff that's intended for 5 or 6 year olds.
The thing is, it wasn't really personal at all, since they just gave the same gifts to everyone. So, while I definitely appreciated the gesture at the time, it felt kind of weird as I reflected on it later. It's like "Here, we love you, here's a bag full of THINGS." Of course the Bible verse bookmarks and such were a nice touch, but it was just too much to take in and really appreciate. I became confused.
And plus, while I also appreciate the sentiment, I also don't like waste (environmentalist rant coming up). WHY would they give silly googly eye puppets to older women? Some of those flimsy plastic things, I could see absolutely no use for. It was like "Hmm, what kind of gift can I give that won't be the same as the others?" And I had hundreds of pieces of paper to recycle from that weekend and sadly, a lot of things to throw out.
While we were going through the bags, one of the women actually stopped by my table and said to me, "Don't you feel loved?" (In a kindly way!) I was thinking, was this really supposed to make me feel loved? Like I said, a very nice gesture, but something felt off to me.
I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way. I don't NEED personalized gifts or expensive things. I didn't want those things. But I felt like I was
supposed to feel loved from receiving the gifts. And yet, they felt completely impersonal.
There were some very good touches to the weekend, such as your sponsor asking your family and such to write letters to you, which they presented you with on the last day. Heh, my parents weren't even bothered to write full letters, so that was kind of depressing. But it was nice to read letters from my friends. That, the Candlelight (which was mainly because my husband was there), the night where we couldn't talk, and private prayer time were my favorite parts of the Walk.