Becoming

Written By Jessie Thompson, LMSW, LCSW Lasting Peace Counseling

On June 19, 2026, we held our first “Becoming” Mother/Daughter Retreat. To capture this day in words feels almost impossible. It wasn't just a retreat or a lesson about periods. It wasn't just a beautiful summer afternoon filled with laughter, flowers, good food, and mothers sitting with their daughters. It was something much deeper. It was becoming.

I think it's important to share why I wanted to create this retreat in the first place. Over the years, I've spent countless hours sitting with young girls, teenagers, and women in my counseling office. One story has repeated itself more times than I can count.

"I hated my body."

"I was embarrassed."

"No one ever talked to me about it."

"I thought I was dying when I got my first period."

Many women remember their first period not with celebration, but with fear, confusion, shame, or even disgust. No one prepared them for what their incredible bodies were designed to do. Instead of feeling wonder, they learned to disconnect from their bodies before they were even old enough to understand them.

That has always broken my heart. I wanted something different for our girls. I wanted them to know before that first day ever arrived that their bodies are not something to fear. They are not something to hide. They are certainly not something to be ashamed of. Their bodies were intentionally created by God.

Every monthly cycle is a reminder of life. Of the incredible design woven into every woman. Whether or not a woman ever carries a child, her body tells the story of God's creativity, purpose, and care. So instead of waiting for fear to write the first chapter of their story, we wanted to write a different one.

Throughout the day, we talked honestly about periods, hormones, emotions, body changes, and practical ways to care for ourselves. We laughed. We asked awkward questions. We practiced using period products. We packed first period kits. We ate cupcakes. We reminded the girls that every woman they know has walked this road before them.

But something even more beautiful happened. As I reflect on it now,  the retreat became about so much more than periods. It actually became about identity.

Our culture is constantly telling girls who they should become, what they should look like, and where their worth comes from. If we aren't careful, our daughters begin measuring themselves against everyone around them instead of remembering who they were created to be. Scripture tells us something different.

We are made in the image of God. He has designed each one of us with unique gifts, special abilities, and a purpose that belongs to us alone. This truth changes everything. If our identity is built on the world, we'll spend our lives trying to become someone else. Even many people who first come into counseling tell me, "I need to change." Their goals often reflect becoming a completely different person. But healing isn't about becoming someone else, it's about uncovering who you already are. It's about removing the masks we've learned to wear and peeling away the ways the world has shaped us into someone we were never meant to be. Beneath all of that, the image of God is still there.

When our identity is rooted in Christ, we are free to become exactly who He created us to be. There is such freedom in that. The pressure to constantly reinvent yourself begins to fade because your worth and identity were never something you had to earn or create.

One of my favorite parts of the retreat wasn't even something we taught. It was something we watched. Mothers looking into their daughters' eyes and daughters seeing delight reflected back at them. Science tells us that our brains are shaped by relationships. Through something called mirroring, children begin to understand who they are by watching the faces of the people who love them. They learn, "Am I safe? Am I loved? Am I valuable?"

How beautiful that God designed our brains this way. And how much more beautiful that He Himself delights in us. Watching this between mothers and daughters was so much like the love God reflects to us. 

Our hope was that every mother left seeing her daughter with fresh eyes, and every daughter left knowing she is deeply loved, not because of what she accomplishes, how she looks, or who the world tells her to be, but simply because she belongs to God.

As the afternoon came to a close, I found myself looking around and wishing every mother and daughter could experience something like this together. Not because it was perfect (far from it ha!) but because these moments matter. The conversations we have before the hard moments come matter. The memories we create matter. The truths we plant before the lies of the world begin to speak matter.

This was only our first Becoming Retreat. And it certainly won't be our last.

If you missed this one, I hope you'll join us next time. We'd love to welcome you into a room filled with laughter, honest conversations, truth, and a community of women who are learning together that becoming isn't about changing into someone new.

It's about remembering who God created you to be all along.

Continue the Becoming Journey

If reading this brought a little ache to your heart, whether because you wish someone had poured into you this way or because you want something different for your daughter,  have some exciting news.

The Becoming Retreat was never meant to be a one time event. I'm already dreaming about our next retreat, and I'd love for even more mothers and daughters to experience it together. Before I begin planning, I'd love to know who's interested.

If you'd like to be the first to hear when registration opens, join the Becoming Retreat waiting list. There's no commitment, just a way for me to gauge interest and keep you informed as plans come together.

If enough families are interested, we'll begin planning our next retreat.