Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
We gathered tonight for a "Spa Day" to relax, rejuvenate, and to set our captives free. What a challenge! If you have ever been held captive by not forgiving, then you know the burden and unrest that your soul has. Why hold yourself captive, though, when Christ has set you free?
Our evening began with "Silky hands" which was wonderful to feel hands soft and silky after a hard day of work. Then we went around and shared two services we would receive if we went to a spa. Most ladies would do a massage and a pedicure, but here are some that stood out (I'll probably mess these descriptions up)...Laurie would have an earwax removal by candle.
Juanita would bath in chocolate:)
After we all started dreaming, we came back to reality with a devotional led by Karen on Forgiveness. This is a GREAT chapter...if you would like a copy, please let me know. Karen shared with us a quote from the opening story..."I realized that God takes all sin seriously an that for me to judge one sin to be greater than another was...well I was playing God. God is not partial, and He hated my sin just as much as He hated my husband's sin. I am a sinner saved by grace, nothing more. If I truly accepted who Christ is, then I had the ability to forgive."Jesus shared the parable of the king who forgave his servant's huge debt, but then his servant would not forgive the small debt of his fellow servant. The king, in his anger, delivered the servant over to the jailers. "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Matthew 18:23-35.
Joseph, too, Karen shared had to forgive his brothers. Joseph could have resented his brothers and used his power to harm them, but he remembered that God is sovereign over the hurts that were inflicted on him and that God used them for redemptive purposes...saving his entire family.
God has forgiven us through Christ's blood, we too should forgive those who have sinned against us. "To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and then discover the prisoner was you." Author unknown.
The Holy Spirit truly worked during this time at PEARLS.
Next, we set about rejuvenating our bodies (ok, our feet, but that works its way up our body). A woman is often on her feet all day, whether it is chasing after children, cooking meals, cleaning house, doing laundry, walking around the office, the list goes on... Our feet and our bodies get tired, so how about a little pampering! Karen & Felicia showed us how to pamper our feet.
We headed out to the deck to enjoy the beautiful, yet chilly evening. As you can tell, Stephanie was a little cold, but we quickly warmed up with some really HOT WATER! 
The first thing we did was to soak our feet, but it took most of us a few minutes to actually submerge our feet because the water was SO HOT! Once in, though, it felt GREAT! Then "foot fizzes" were put in the tub to help us thoroughly enjoy the soak. After that we had to rub lotion on our feet, place them in plastic bags,
and submerge them again. 
Once we allowed them to soak for awhile,
we them put a foot scrub on them rubbing it in really well, 
and then rinsing it off in the foot tub once again. Finally, we were given another lotion to finish out the foot bath! 
It was a lot of fun, VERY relaxing, and we now had silky hands and feet!
We topped the evening off with HUGE ice cream sundaes!
What a fun, challenging, relaxing night! I was very blessed by the evening and I hope many others were too! Thanks to Karen & Felica for sharing this great tip with us, and for Karen in allowing us to meet in her home! Also, thanks to all who provided food.
Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, October 6 at Felicia's home! This will be an Accessories Swap. More details to come! Hope you can make it!
As a reminder....PEARLS Freshwater Retreat is October 30 & 31...save the date! You don't want to miss an opportunity for God to work in your life!
