Everlasting Love

"The silence and solitude gave me strength and obedience to the Word of God. Iwill be able to trust God through difficulties and the storms of life. Even in times as troubled as today, m y hope is in the Lord. I will remember this day and the joy of His presence. May I live a life worthy and pleasing to you, My Lord."

The Springs is amazing. Solitude time with God, being in His presence and love. The continual reflection on the truth that "the everlasting love of God is forever." Enjoying the presence of the Lord, praying, reading His Word...waiting to hear His voice: "I love you, my child...Come...Listen."
--Priscilla

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A Must for the Bucket List

"The Lord blessed me with His presence when I felt it had been lost. He embraced me and comforted me. He opened my eyes and my heart with such tenderness. He reminded me that it is He who is in control of all things, all things for His purpose!

For those who have never been, the Springs is an amazing time of communion with the Lord! a must for the Bucket List!"   -- Catherine

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Early Morning Stretch

The songs that Christy used for the early morning stretch:

"Chant" by Michelle Tumes on her cd "Center of My Universe"

"I need thee Every Hour" by Jars of Clay on "Redemptions Songs"

"Strength of my Heart" and "Desire" by Tanya Riley on her cd "Captured" (highly recommend the whole cd - love it)

"Be Thou My Vision" by Ginny Owen on her cd "Without Condition"

"The Fall" by Gungor on "Ghost upon the Earth"

"Beautiful Things" by Nicole Binion on "Follow You"

And the song Christy played in the last chapel was "Agnus Dei" from "Amy Grant Christmas: The complete Collection"

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Loved

"The Lord helped me to truly understand what it means to be loved by Him--that He loves me despite all my flaws and mistakes. Also, He taught me that He has been, and always will be, with me."

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Like coming home

"The Springs is an opportunity for me to spend time with God and develop my relationship with Him; a time to be in silence with Him and listen to His guidance in a safe environment.

The Lord used this time in my life to give me rest, to refresh me, and give me some direction to my questions. The Scriptures are finally beginning to speak to me, or rather, I'm finally able to hear God, through the Scriptures. Coming to The Springs is like coming home to my Father's arms, but not like any earthly father I've ever known. In Him, all of my needs are simply yet lovingly met, providing me the space and time to listen, pray, assess, ponder, steep myself in Scripture and sometimes, most importantly, rest in His loving arms. There is the perfect balance of fellowship, leadership and solitude among women who are turned toward God and this is an encouragement and blessing for me."  -- Lamia

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Love deeply

Live life deeply in love. Meditate on the truths from Scripture that God loves you, has called and chosen you, and is with you always. Experience his love in the gifts He gives -- in flowers and sunsets, in friendships and family, in meaningful work and sacrifical service. Let His love nurture your soul.

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A Mountaintop Experience with Jesus

"I need a time to get away from the busyness of my life to spend quality time with my Lord. To fill up, be refreshed, enjoy the beautiful creation that God has blessed us with, and to feel that peace that passes all understanding and to just be alone with Him."

"This retreat is a wonderful time to get away and spend a mountaintop experience with Jesus."
                                                                          --Carolyn Mendes

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It feels like Family

Group Photo - The Springs, March 2012

"The Springs is a life-changing event that will stay with you forever and you can use the tools given to you at any time or any where. It's also nice to have a nice room of your own and the beauty of the wildflowers, grassy hills, and wild life to take your stress away! It would be so great to have one more day to be alone with the Lord.

"The Lord used this time to de-stress me. I love nature and everytime I come, it feels more and more like family. The women here share the same struggles as other leaders do. So the prayer time is a special time. But the time alone just goes by too fast. I would love to have more alone time. I love the team. You now feel like family and when we arrive and see your faces, it's like coming home to family: a great, happy and warm feeling. God bless you all and thank you from my heart."
                                                   -- Summer Farris

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No Need for a "Church Face"

"The Springs is a place to pull away from all of life's to-dos and noises. A place to rest. A place to meet God without your "church face" on. It's a place to hear God.

"The Lord used this time to give me rest, for communication with Him. It was a time when I could pray. It has been a shot in the arm of refreshment, in and with Him."

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God's at Work

"I feel like The Lord blocked out everything so I could hear him. I still struggled with feeling him, but I heard him clearly. For those who have never been, the Springs is something that you can't imagine. I was scared to spend time in silence. But God works and teaches in ways I never before experienced." --Marty Angarole

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Out of the Dirt - Fruitful and Abundant

Gina used her paint brush to express her praise to the Lord for what He is doing in her life. This picture is actually two panels that can be join or separated. She presented her art as a praise to God at our closing chapel.

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Refreshed

"The Lord used this time in my life to bring me into the company of women who love God/Jesus and live their lives with that love at the core of their very existance. Many people are turned off (or away, if you will) by Christianity because there are (what they call) too many hypocrites in the churches. The women of NEWIM are true examples of people who walk their talk. It has been refreshing and inspirational to be among them.  Thank you and bless you all!

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A Unique Time

"The Springs is a very unique time where you have the opportunity to turn off the world and use your spiritual senses to experience the Lord.

"My time with Jesus was so sweet. The Lord led me to rest, read, and receive His revelation. I'm always so surprised how all the silent time is gone before I expect it to be. Now, having been here a few times, I'm done with having so many expectations and wants that I don't give time to turmoil. The Lord knows what I need and always puts my focus on exactly what will speak to me the most. I have learned more about the character of Jesus and how wonderfully He values who I am."  Rachel

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A God-filled time

"I loved every minute of this retreat! It was a peaceful, God-filled time. Wonderful! I was able to really rest, stop, pray and focus on the Lord. It's so hard to do that in my busy life. Slowing down really helped me to re-charge and focus on who God is, and what He wants me to do and be--mainly on what he wants me to be!" -- Linda Peters

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Learn more about The Springs

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Describe the Springs

Here are 12 quotes from different women who attended the Springs Retreat in November. This is how they said they would describe the Springs for someone who had never been.

"The Springs is a retreat for creating space (with guidance) for God to speak into your life."

"A wonderful time of being quiet with the Lord."

"It's an awesome time alone with God. I experience a spiritual refreshing and my soul finds rest in God."

"It is about getting away from the demands in your life so you are free to focus on the Lord and be in a place where, just perhaps, without the din of noise, you canhear his still, small voice clearer."

"A time of rest - to hear fromthe Lord, connect with Him through others."

"A beautiful place where you can spend time knowing and worshipping the Lord."

"Time to be with the Lord in silent retreat, gently guided by chapels to bring you refreshment, renewal, and restoration."

"This retreat is the greatest gift - time alone with God without interruptions."

"The best retreat a woman could ever attend because it not only offers refreshment, fellowship and teaching, but most of all your time is spent alone with God getting to know Him better."

"It is a very peaceful time with God, enjoying His creation."

"Time for quiet restoration of the soul."

"A time to spend with God."

 Join us for our first weekend retreat, March 9-11, 2012 at St. Anthony's. Go to NEWIM's website to register. We'd love to have you join us!

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What did you do at The Springs Retreat?

What did I do? Whew! The Lord and I cleared the air about a lot of things! Many things were surrendered, laid at the foot of the Cross, and then, God and I had fun! How marvelous to be in the presence of the Lord."

--Scotty, Youth Pastor's wife

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Soul Work

It is our duty to be loyal to God’s desires.


Beware of allowing externals to take control of your life. “Eat, drink and be merry,” became the life purpose of the farmer who had lost his soul. He failed to live rich toward God and only focused on amassing wealth for this life.

Our souls are not designed to be floundering on their own but are to be deeply rooted in God.


Open your inner world to the Lord and sit in his presence for a few minutes, without words, just inviting him in, that you might experience his love for you. Gently ask him to show you a glimpse of your inner world. As you sit in the Lord’s presence, do you sense he is opening you to something? Make every effort not to resist God’s work. If you find negative emotions, don’t pretend they are not there. Welcome them and release them to the Spirit. As you open yourself to the Lord, he will transform you.

As Christians, we can fail to live “rich toward God.” When we allow a busy life to keep us from a profoundly rich, soul-expanding, all-encompassing love for Jesus, we have become the farmer, living a profoundly impoverished life, living as if this life is all there is.

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Keeping the Lord before us

“The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God .”


One of the most essential practices of the spiritual life is to keep the Lord before us all of the time. David knew this: "I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure" (Psalm 16:8-9).

So how do we do this? When we take some time to retreat, we have the time to quiet our “inner noisy workshop.” Sometimes it takes 24 hours of solitude before we can begin to be present to the Lord. I've found some ways that help me to quiet the inner noise - things as simple as keeping a list so that my mind doesn't have to be continually reminding of things I don't want to forget.

Along with quieting the inner noise, we need to fill our minds with Jesus. We open ourselves to him and direct our thinking toward him. This is another goal. We can develop the habit of keeping the words of the Gospels in our minds by reading them carefully day by day, and re-reading them. We can memorize them. I find that when I am actively working on memorizing a passage, I naturally recall it throughout the day.

Keeping the Lord before us is a choice, a habit, a skill that we can practice and become better at. If we stick with it, keeping our mind focused on the Lord and at peace in Him will become the default. Our minds will return to him naturally, as a matter of habit.

Memorizing Scripture is such a gift as it helps our mind muse upon God.

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Arrange Time for Communion

"We understand anew that God will not compete for our attention. We must arrange time for our communion with Him as we draw aside in solitude and silence."

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