Nordic Women’s Virtual Teaching Day: Finding Contentment in God

Editors’ note:

If you happen to find yourself in a church setting where you would like to hear more teaching by and for women, we hope you’ll find lots of good ideas and examples around our website for virtual and live events that you could reproduce in your congregation. Following is a great example from our sisters in Northern Europe of a simple yet powerful event, which created an opportunity for women teaching women, connecting several small and medium-sized churches in neighboring nations.

Viktoria McDowell, Stockholm, Sweden

As we in the Nordics experience ever-stricter pandemic restrictions even into 2021, it can seem like there isn’t much new about the New Year. The sisters in the Nordics felt the need to pull together to hold up the word and work of our God in our lives to gain strength and conviction. We wanted to learn to live our lives trusting in God even when the whole world or our lives seem to be filled with struggle and confusion. So, on January 16^th, 2021, we held a Nordic Women’s Virtual Teaching Day with the theme “Finding Contentment in God as We Live Out our Calling.”

We broke down Psalm 23 through prayer, teaching and testimonies from several women representing our churches in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. There was teaching on what it means for God to relate to us like a shepherd and the contentment we can find in his character. Several women shared about how they found contentment in God during difficult, scary or confusing times and how that contentment helped them see God’s presence, provision and goodness. Finally, we talked about how contentment in who God is helps us live out our calling to make him known to others.

One of the women who shared was Yinka Lawson

One sister, Katja, shared about verse four: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” In the beginning of 2020, the result of some medical tests showed that she needed an urgent major surgery in three weeks’ time. This was scary news for Katja because it reminded her of a procedure many years before where she had an extremely bad reaction to the anesthesia: it had resulted in temporary paralysis.

 Katja found contentment in God in a scary situation

To prepare, she handled her fears by focusing on joy in her relationship with God so that she would be ready for any outcome, confident in being close to him. Even after many complications due to Covid, including not being able to have anyone present at the hospital to support her, Katja felt courageous enough to go through with the surgery, finding peace in that God’s presence would be enough support. On the day of the surgery, she described that her inner thoughts and heart were at peace thanks to her preparation, even though her body was physically reacting with post-traumatic stress symptoms due to her previous experience. She thankfully survived the surgery with no bad reactions. What was even more amazing was Katja’s detailed reflection on all the good things she saw God provide for her, through the timing of the surgery and the quality of care, leaving her truly confident that she did not need to fear when God was with her.

A highlight of the event was getting to see the more than one hundred women who attended the zoom call in our long breakout rooms. We have close relationships across the countries and in normal circumstances would visit one another often, so it was very encouraging to connect with old lifelong friends, to greet new Christians who haven’t met many people, and to reach out to one another’s friends who joined the call to learn more about faith. The entire event helped us have greater faith to trust God as we apply his word to our lives and encourage one another!