Rest, Reflect, Renew

The Well Retreat Center, what a blessed place to retreat to in order to rest, renew, relax, read, reflect, respond, and meet with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. I went to The Well feeling fragmented and disjointed, unable to calm the frantic pace that has been my life over the last 15 months since Mike’s accident. Tom and Linda Ashe, the Directors, gave me “permission” just to “be”, to sleep, and to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading as to what I read and did while there. What a gift! I found peace, quiet, and a retreat from all the responsibilities and pressures, plus found anew the hunger for more time in God’s Word. I’ve learned again the absolute need to grow in the knowledge of God through His word in order to stay pure of heart, and how journaling helps to solidify it in my mind and keep Him as my focus and center. I also relearned the importance of carving out time to rest and reflect. These I will strive to carve out time for daily, pushing aside the drive to constantly be busy with work or other activities. It has to be a conscious decision to choose what is of greatest priority and make it happen. God will meet me there. He is my all, my strength, my shelter, my strong tower, and refuge from the storm. May He also be yours. There have been many things that God has spoken to me through His Word and other books that I’ve read during my retreat, and I will try to share and post these on a more regular basis in the coming days.

The Friday & Saturday before going to The Well, I had a wonderful time visiting with our great friends, the Guthrie's. Is always a pleasure and joy to spend time with their amazing family and to see how the children continue to grow, mature, and blossom into beautiful children of God.  I enjoyed some laughs with W & LL over peanut-butter-balls-gone-wrong and ended up with "AD" (addictive disaster) as AJ dubbed it which was delicious. I played carpet ball with the 3 youngest, enjoyed a couple of hours of just talking with Kristin, LL painted my toenails and fingernails, and I appreciated being prayed over by Zack. Then I was off to Keegan's best friend's wedding which was another joyful event.  

Saturday night through Tuesday morning, I enjoyed spending time with Keegan and Amy in their apartment. We played games, ate well (Amy is a great cook), swam in the pool, and had some great conversations. My mom would always say she liked to be able to “picture” us in our homes and it really is a blessing.

Saturday night as I was lying in my bed back at the farm, I was praising God and being grateful for the gift of time with friends, family, Him and respite when a real sense of freedom, peace, and release came over me quite unexpected, yet very welcome. As though through praising, I finally let go of the last bits of burden and care that I’ve been carrying around and put my total focus, trust, and confidence in the Lord.

The Spirit keeps on bringing me to verses and reminders to “Stand still” or some variation of the same message. Isaiah 7:9b “…if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” I Peter 5:8&9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”   Did you notice that all the verses say “stand”?  It is not a passive act, we are to be standing, ready at a seconds notice to be obedient to our Master’s command, ready to run from the devil’s attempts to devour us.  I have heard recently of so many Christians who have fallen into Satan’s snares. Evidently they were not standing still, or on the alert, worldly allures can be very enticing. ANY of us can fall prey to the enemy. I would like to ask you all to be praying for me, that I would not fall into any traps that Satan is laying out to try to hurt my witness of Jesus Christ. I want to stay alert, firm in the faith, and only move when God says to move. It doesn’t even have to be a “big” stumble, there are a myriad of “small” ways to stumble.  Let’s increase our knowledge of God’s word and our focus on Him so that we can stand still, firm, and steadfast. Only listening, obeying, and moving at the sound of His voice. There is Spiritual warfare. Let’s keep our shields up, our swords in hand, and our armor on so that we bring Glory to God.