A marriage retreat that focused on me?

My husband and I attended a marriage conference this past weekend that was offered through our church. We spent just over three hours with a lovely man Ephran, who has been married for 24 years and has 5 boys! Wow! He informed us straight away that the focus would not be on our marriage and relationship but on ourselves. That's interesting now isn't it? I can assure you, I've never been to a marriage conference where we didn't talk about marriage but rather focused on ourselves! He began with scripture of course, which I unfortunately didn't write down and I don't have the CD yet but the basis was... Lord search me, test me, and reveal any wicked thing in me. We must love God, love ourselves, and faithfully walk in love in order to really be a good mate. This of course goes for all others in our lives as well. This conference made so much sense to me, it was meant for me; everyone else could have gone home. Through the restart of my 40 days, the thoughts from my previous blog, and the super huge fight I got into with a person close to me, it all came full circle in this conference. Unfortunately, it only makes sense to me; as I'm having a hard time articulating the process and the effect it's had on me. At the end of the conference we were asked to write down one thing, one nugget that we've taken from the conference. Well, I'm a bit long winded so I have three paragraphs.

"The days leading to this conference have been painful and confusing but it all makes sense now. I believe I was tested, my character was tested and the content of my true heart in its current state was revealed. The events of the week were sparked by an offense, but it wasn't the offense that caused me so much pain, but my response (how I behaved) to the offense that hurt so much.

This weeks journey combined with this conference I believe to have been a necessary process and a divine one to spark dramatic change in my life, my walk with God, my relationship with my husband and children, and the people our lives with touch in the future.

I know deep in my core that my husband and I are destined for great things. Not that we are destined to own or collect material items or make a ton of money, but that we will be used mightily by God to carry out his will and change lives."

The greatest gift from the conference is that what my husband took away from it was the need to complete his education in ministry. Thank you Jesus for this precious gift you have given me and that he is a man after your own heart!

In closing this sweet man left us with 14 scriptures to really study and spend some time in. That combined with the book I'm currently working through should keep me pretty busy for a while.

A little lesson I've learned in this whole process (the thing that completes my circle) is that who I am, my worth, my value is not measured in someone else’s opinion of me, or even my own opinion. My worth is determined by how God sees me and according to his word I am a new creation, I am righteous (he sees me as an example of his righteousness), faithful, etc. Though there may not currently be outward evidence of it, His word has the power to perform exactly what God says I am! I am complete in Him! Every scripture that reads "in him," or "in Christ" is an example of who I truly am in Christ, how he sees me. There are 130 of them; I'm off to find a few more!