Nurturing Eden in Our Hearts 

By Georgia Lamb, Edinburgh, Scotland 

Editors’ note: Throughout 2023, a group of women from ICOC churches on several continents (https://www.belovedanddignified.com/about) were coming together in a grassroots effort to plan what became the Beloved and Dignified online women’s conference, held Oct 6-7, 2023. The goal of the conference was to minister to women experiencing hell on earth – heartbreakingly painful circumstances like betrayals, sickness, loss and death, political instability and war, addiction, abandonment and abuse. We reached out to the participants after the event to learn what they took away from the experience. 

L-R top: Jolly Busingye, Vera Chimbanda, Theresa Clark;
L-R Middle: Gigi Galloway, Yung Gore, Dr. Jennifer Konzen;
L-R Bottom: Cherise Montgomery, Fatimah Saunders, Cynthia Villanueva

Navigating church and a relationship with God in my twenties (after having grown up in the church and becoming a Christian as a teenager) has been challenged by many losses, but especially recently the grief of seeing those in my generation who used to walk beside me in this journey decide to walk away. It has often left me questioning who is still on this path with me and the future of the church, feeling God's absence more than his presence, and has made the path of walking with God feel painful and lonely. 

The Beloved & Dignified conference felt like God's wraparound presence. It was like He was calling me to look around and see the stories of faithful women who have gone ahead of me and lived lives that have been painfully hit by the truth that we are far from living in Eden in many ways and yet they still nurture Eden in their hearts, nurturing a relationship with God that is rich with intimacy and belonging. I felt so moved and met by the truth I heard again and again throughout this conference: It is all about relationship with God. Women speaking about mental health struggles, losses, abandonments, living through war; it seemed to all land on bringing God into the pain and actually experiencing the presence and character of God through it. I really felt God’s voice reminding me, “you are not alone on this path, all these women are with you, but most importantly, I am with you. I am leading you on this path. Experience me beside you on this path.” I feel refreshed to discover ways of connecting with God that will help me to truly experience him, outside of (but not excluding) the traditional quiet time method we have encouraged in the past; practicing hearing God’s voice through silence and mindfulness, meditating on scriptures that speak to who God is and countless resources that were recommended by the speakers! 

I also felt humbled by the helpful ways women have been and the unhelpful ways women have been to the speakers as they have gone through the worst times of their lives. I felt the surrender that was being asked of me, to not try and fix the pain of my friends when they are going through suffering, but to instead just be with them, to love them. To not offer input until they have asked four times rather than jumping at the opportunity to give my thoughts! (which is embarrassing to admit haha). 

I am so grateful for the speakers at this conference validating the truth that the world we live in is hard, there are hard things happening to us and around us every day. The emphasis on compassion felt so needed and it was like every single person who joined online could take a collective deep breath of relief and feel recognised in what they are going through. In most church conferences in the past, it has been so easy for me to feel lost in a crowd and like simply a number. But thank you so much to the speakers and organisers of the Beloved & Dignified Conference for helping me feel seen. 

Georgia Lamb is 26 and a trainee therapist