Bala Hi

This weekend was WHBC's annual ladies' weekend away in Bala ~ our fourth visit there! As always we had a really wonderful time. It’s so nice to have just a couple of days without having to cook, tidy up, wash up or even think about what meals are going to be. It’s always lovely to actually have time to sit down and have some real conversation and get to know one another better, when often all we have time for is a fleeting, “Hi!” I always come away thinking, “Why don’t I talk to Suchabody more?”

Our Bible studies for the weekend were in Esther. Growing up with the Bible is a real privilege but with it sometimes comes a tendency to become over familiar with some of the stories that you learn over and over again in Sunday School and miss so much in them. This weekend Joyce Reanney breathed life back into the story of Esther for me at our annual Bala Ladies’ Conference weekend. This story is yet another reminder that God is always working out His plan in our lives, even when it seems as if nothing is happening, or when we are facing real difficulties.
We also had some adventure. Some of the party decided to go out for chips around 11pm, so a group of us ventured into Bala in the pouring rain. For some reason, which maybe this picture will explain, we were quite an interesting sight. One woman, standing in a doorway called out, “You lot look a picture, can I take one?” I think the red anoraks did it.

I was sharing a room with my mother and when I got in, she was sitting up, reading by lamplight, waiting for me. She peered at me over her glasses and uttered those words which made me feel 14 again, “Where have you been?”