The Women of Bridge to Grace Covenant Church in Roswell invite local women to join them for a one-day spiritual retreat on Saturday, May 4. The theme is Spiritual Friendship, and the scriptural focus will be on the road to Emmaus as described in Luke 24 . The event will feature spiritual director and author Tracy Balzer. Balzer's latest book is "A Journey of Sea and Stone: How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us."

The $50 price of the retreat includes materials and lunch.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the church, 2385 Holcomb Bridge Road. Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. and guest are asked to register at www.b2gcc.org.

"We hope the women in our community will embrace the way spiritual friendships can run deep, especially in uncertain times," said an organizer.

Balzer's ministry has been marked by her calling to listen to God and listen to people. She is an oblate at Subiaco Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Arkansas, and leads spiritual pilgrimages each summer to the sacred island of Iona in Scotland. Her experience also includes serving in campus ministry and higher Christian education for almost twenty-seven years.