This past weekend I had the blessing to be able to attend my home church’s women’s retreat, and as it has been the case over the years, it was a fantastic experience. It was a time to re-energize. It was a time to fellowship with sisters in Christ. It was a time to spend much needed quality time one-on-one with My Lord.
The theme of the retreat was "Garden Getaway." And let me tell you…I am no gardener, but the theme was right on!
It all revolved around one of my favorite passages in Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. From the first session, as we settled into our tables and read this precious piece of the Word I knew God had brought me to the retreat to speak to me directly…(I know…that’s true for every woman who attended…but you know what I mean?!).
God used the retreat to take me for a walk with Him. Both figuratively and literally I walked alongside My Savior through a garden of His making to communicate with Him in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus took me by the hand as we explored the most recent seasons of my life. He placed amazing women at my table to help me in this excursion and as it usually happens, at the end I was both: deeply satisfied and very thirsty for more!
As I walked in the garden with Christ He did many things:
1. He provided a group of women who were vulnerable enough to share their own seasons, hurts and situations so I could realize that I am not alone and that I too can open up my heart and see what The Lord has done for me.
2. He reminded me of the intense period of grieving, loss and fear that He and I had been navigating through in the recent past.
3. He showed me the peace and the joy that He is blessing me with right in this moment…and…
4. He prompted me to think about the future and about the reason(s) He has delivered me for.
It is my intention to develop each of these points in separate posts; therefore, this is just an introduction. I hope you stick around with me during the next few days as I try to turn each post into a picture of the hand of Christ in our lives and the way it looks when we pay attention.
May these humble meditations inspire you to take a walk with God in the garden of your life.
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
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