Every year, the women of Highland Park go to “Womanfest”. It’s a time where we come together to have a time of worship, fellowship, and a whole lot of fun. Though we have changed the setting and the speakers throughout the years, the camaraderie remains. This year, we went to Bastrop, Texas and our speaker was Eileen Mitchell, one of Rev. Cheryl Kimble’s friends of over 30 years!
Eileen’s theme was “Women of Courage”, and over the course of three sessions, she introduced us to three modern women and re-introduced us to three women in the Bible who displayed great courage.
Throughout the weekend, we learned that courage is displayed through our journeys: the way we embark on the journey we never saw ourselves on. We also learned that courage is displayed through hope and love: our willingness to continue hoping for, seeing, and advocating for a brighter future for ourselves and others.
On top of learning about the women Eileen highlighted, Jane Macias also hosted a trivia night! We learned just how much we knew about women in music, literature, and movies (some were more knowledgeable than others). We did puzzles, played games, and ate and shopped together on Main Street, building new relationships, and reconnecting with old friends.
On Sunday morning, we worshiped together, singing songs and taking Communion together. We also shared our stories, arguably one of the most courageous things we can do. We spoke of the women in our lives who are courageous: they are our mothers, sisters, and grandmothers. Our friends and our colleagues. There’s truly no shortage of courageous women around you if you look for them.
We’re already looking forward to Womanfest 2025, and until we get there, we’ll try to be and see Women of Courage.
