I’ve just returned from the first Psalm One Refocus and Refuel Retreat since March 2020. It was a lavish treasure from above. I love teaching and leading these getaways. Maybe someday I can do one with you.

 

I often say my job description is to put your hand in the hand of Jesus and get out of the way. My prayer at a retreat like this is always, “Lord, meet us where we are and take us where we need to be.”

 

We shared reminders of God's love and truth, gifts, good food, camaraderie, discussions around the fireplace, creativity, safety, trust, manatees, chocolate and homemade cinnamon rolls, wisdom, the Word, coffee or tea in our pajamas, healing silence, prayer, peace, joy, a boy, a mole, a fox, a horse, and most of all, time in silence at the feet of Jesus. A few needed tears, or “liquid prayers” as one person describes them. Lots and lots of laughter. Hilarity is good for the soul.

 

We arrive, begin the dial-down, and lay our busy lives, jumbled minds, and scattered hearts before God. Then we seek the Lord alone together. That's not a contradiction in terms. That's a wonderful game plan. “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:11-12)

 

We had a whole new experience of Psalm 46 and 62. We journal page after page, as thoughts, burdens, and dreams flowed out of our pens that we didn’t realize were in our heads. God gives each person something so unique and powerful. We prepare our souls, then leave the agenda up to God. His theme came out loud and clear: Be My Beloved Daughter. Be My Beloved Son. Beloved. Be. Loved. Being grounded in being loved by the Beloved.

 

“The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.’” (Jeremiah 31:3)

 

Beloved.

Be. Loved.

 

Be still and know that He is God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

 

After almost two exhausting years, one song kept echoing in my head:

 

    There is a balm in Gilead

    To make the wounded whole.

    There is a balm in Gilead

    To heal the sin-sick soul.

 

    Sometimes I feel discouraged,

    And think my work’s in vain,

    But then the Holy Spirit

    Revives my soul again.

 

For this we need Jesus. And for this we have Jesus. Jesus has placed us in His Body of fellow believers. May you find a community where you can seek God alone together. May the power and blessing of these vertical and the horizontal relationships transform us as we walk with the Trinity.

 

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:8-12)

 

Giving thanks for each of you this week.

 

Much love,

Linda