A long-term friendship with one of the Soul Sisters, Tricia, brought Mary to the Women of the Well (WoW) retreat, not once, but four times.

 When asked what she expected when first attending Mary said:

“The first time I came I struggled, but I stayed with it and tried to do everything asked of me.  I was a little bit reluctant at first not knowing what it was going to be about.” 

She recalled that it was on her second retreat when she saw a move in her experience.  

“I came thinking ‘well I've been before, so I know what's going to happen and I know everything’. So, I was completely thrown by the fact on that second day…I sat on the edge of the bed, and wrote a poem. I’ve never in my life done this. I don't even like poetry very much.  I remember two lines from it ‘There was no judgment. Only an outstretched hand.’ I was speaking to the woman at the well.”

And now on her fourth retreat Mary said she recognises a growth in herself: 

“I've recognised I'm calmer, I'm more accepting, I'm more loving of God.” 

This retreat, there was a resounding joy in Mary’s experience. That experience was really felt during one of the painting sessions. These painting sessions are a time set aside in the day for a moment of self-reflection. Often coupled with a prompting question, journaling and sometimes part of the small group activities.

“For me, the question I chose was ‘an emotional event in my life at present’ which I journaled and then we had time to share it with the others. I had recognised joy. I'd also coupled it with an incredible sadness. So, the joy had sort of been pushed aside a little bit. What came out in the painting was the overwhelming sense of joy and I couldn't [believe it], I'm not a painter. I'm not a writer and yet it astounded me. I was quite tickled by it.” 

When we asked Mary what makes her keep coming back & why she would recommend someone else come and join us at a WoW retreat, she said:

“For many of us, we’re looking for something that's missing in our life. Looking for a God that is just supportive and there, not in any way judging you or anything like that.  That's why I'd like the word to get out that this exists, so for people that are struggling with their own religion, whatever religion it is, that they're maybe feeling a bit closed in. This is a freedom, a sense of looking at yourself. It's 100% personal and you listen to other stories. Again, there's no judgment.

I guess it is that outstretched hand that's come from these three women, without judgment and yet when I wrote that [poem]. That was about Jesus’ meeting with the woman of the well. I wrote it from her perspective and yet now I see the parallels with what's going on here.” 

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