Soul Retreat

Truly my soul finds rest in God; My salvation comes from Him. Psalm 62:1

For years I have struggled with the concept of having a set quiet time with God.  Honestly, I think that I simply did not “get it”.  I would do it when I had time, when I felt like it or when I was desperate.  It was more like an item on my To Do list or a chore.  Don’t get me wrong, I often had a quiet time with God, it was just not consistent, and I struggled with the “heart” of my quiet time.

Well, last year I finally figured it out.  So, what changed?  My heart was changed!  I was going thru a rough patch and my soul desperately needed a place to rest, grieve and heal.  That is how the Soul Retreat was born and before I knew it I had a regular quiet time with God that I now hunger for!  It is no longer an item on my To Do list.

Today I thought I would share with you some of the elements that make up Soul Retreat.

Soul Retreat is about experiencing the presence of God. It is time spent away from the business of the day and reconnecting with God in worship, word and prayer.

My den is where I retreat – it is the place where I can learn, rest, meditate, read, pray and worship. It is a place with good energy – books are in here with me, my dog has a bed by my feet and the window looks out into nature.  There are strong colors in here and soft touches as well.  When I am in my retreat space, I feel empowered, strong, confident and secure.

I love books, I love reading and I love learning.  Therefore, books are an important part of my retreat.  Obviously, I have my bible, but I also have a bookshelf full of books as well as some online resources that I often use.   Basically, I have started to build a toolbox of resources to enhance the bible study part of Soul Retreat .

Prayer is the anchor of my retreat.  It is the conversation, the hope, the reassurance, the security, the quiet and the peace of my relationship with God.  When praying I like to kneel, it just feels like the right posture for coming before God, it shows humbleness and honor.  My retreat space has a place for that too.

One of my favorite song’s is “Take Me In” by Kutless.  They sing: Take me into the Holy of Holies, take me in by the blood of the lamb, take me into the Holy of Holies. I hunger and thirst for Your Righteousness.  This brings me to the final element of retreat that I am going to write about today, Worship.

Worship is the fastest way for me to feel like I have come into the presence of God.  Listening to worship music quiet’s my internal voice as I tune into the lyrics.  It will often bring tears to my eye’s as I am humbled by my humanness and my heart becomes grateful as I recognize how great our God is and how blessed I am to be in relationship with Him.

I would love to hear about your experience with a quiet time.  Do you have a certain place?  A certain time?  A favorite way to worship?

Heavenly Father, take me into your Holy of Holies, I hunger and thirst for your righteousness, I desire to spend more time in Your presence and learn of your ways.  Truly my soul finds rest in You, my salvation comes from You.   Amen