Scores of Christian women from around the island and across the region assembled at the La Vue Conference Room on Friday evening, June 29th, to embark on a women’s empowering weekend retreat.
The event, designed to cut across denominational and religious barriers, with the theme “Come Away With Me”, was spearheaded by Anguilla’s Senior Magistrate, Ms. Ivenia Benjamin. By virtue of her fundamental Christian faith, she is a woman of remarkable spiritual conviction who exhibits her devotion to Christ without reluctance or reservation.
Ms. Benjamin stated: “The idea for this Women Empowerment Conference came to me at a time when I was asking God for a deeper hunger for His will to be realized in my own life. Our Lord is saying that His people are distracted. There are too many agents in the world competing for their attention, their time, their lives, their marriages, their children, their gifts and, ultimately, their souls.
“To live consciously, one must be empowered. Empowerment means the bestowing upon someone the lawful power or authority to do some action. The fire of God’s power is rapidly extinguishing from our churches, our homes and our communities through our lukewarmness and our indifference to Him.
“So, this weekend God wants to make us confident in living, bold in walking, and unafraid in claiming the power and authority that Christ, as our savior, has bestowed upon us. God wants to loosen the chains of various kinds that fetter us and render us helpless in the face of a mocking world.”
The Hon. Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge, herself a woman of strong spiritual persuasion, graced the conference with a relevant message which stated in part: “Whatever we chose to do in life, we will ultimately find that it takes work — work to shape our careers and to advance in our professions; work to raise our children and to build our families; work to earn a living. The world has long expected that for a person to succeed at any endeavor he or she must invest effort, time, work and resources.
“Likewise, to build a spiritual relationship with God, and to grow in Christ, also calls for effort and hard work. Yet, it appears that we spend more time in conducting our own daily affairs than we do in spiritual pursuits. This “Come Away With Me” weekend is an invitation to move away from our everyday distractions with the sole purpose of encountering our Lord, Jesus Christ, to spend time with Him and to listen to His still voice.”
Conference presenters and featured speakers consisted of women from many walks of life. These included: Trinidad and Tobago’s Deborah Christiana De Rosia; Dominica’s Dr. Anestine Theophile-Lafond and Minister Caesarina Paul; Minister Samantha Derrick of Dominica and Anguilla’s Sandra York-Gumbs, Ann Marie Letang, Jillian Carty-Sheehy, Lenora Vanessa Connor, and the renowned Dr. Oluwakemi M. Linda Banks.
The “Come Away With Me” Conference is an annual event which is expected to be staged again in late June 2019 at a venue to be announced.
