Journaling

Moody Radio's Midday Connection www.middayconnection.org focused their June 2 program on Journaling. Luann was one of their guests. Here's a link to the webpage -- then click on the "Listen Now" icon on the right sidebar. (Luann's section is the last 15 minutes.)

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Pray or Act?

Pray or act? How do we know? Some advice from Carlo Carretto:

Live love, let love invade you. It will never fail to teach you what you must do.

Charity, which is God in us, will point to the way ahead. It will say to you "Now kneel," or "Now leave."

It is love which gives things their value. It makes sense of the difficulty of spending hours and hours on one's knees praying while so many need looking after in the world; and in the context of love we must view our inability to change the world, to wipe out evil and suffering.

It is love which must determine one's actions, love which must give unity to what is divided.

Love is the synthesis of contemplation and action, the meeting-point between heaven and earth, between God and humanity.

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An oasis of love

The heart of the Gospel is to be an oasis of love in whatever desert we might find ourselves.

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Finding solitude

Thomas Merton taught us that solitude is not simply a matter of geography.

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Forgiveness

“Converting a painful inheritance (the difficult things that have happened to us) into something good requires all the discernment we can muster, both from what is within us, and what we can glean from mentors. The worst of the curses that people inflict on us, the real abuse and terror, can’t be forgotten or undone, but they can be put to good use in the new life that one has taken up. It is a kind of death; the lid closes on what went before. But the past is not denied. And we are still here, with all of our talent, gifts, and failings, our strengths and weaknesses. All the baggage comes along; nothing wasted, nothing lost. Perhaps the greatest blessing that religious inheritance can bestow is an open mind, one that can listen without judging. It is rare enough that we recognize it in another when we encounter it. I often see it in people who have attained what the monastic tradition terms “detachment,” an ability to live at peace with the reality of whatever happens. Such people do not have a close-off air, nor a boastful demeanor. In them, it is clear, their wounds have opened the way to compassion for others. And compassion is the strength and soul of a religion.”

Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace, pg. 29

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Prayer Songs CD

Many of you suggested that we sell copies of the CDs we use at the beginning of chapels. They can be purchased online from Whole Hearted Worship:

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God just wants my heart

How did the Lord use the retreat in your life?

"Taught me that God requires my love not my accomplishments for him. I was touched by the love he has for me. I needed this time alone so badly. The timing was perfect."

Track 2: "In a word- powerfully. He confirmed direction that he has been preparing me for. It was a great treat to have one-on-one time with Shirley and Betsy. I didn’t expect that and it was a huge blessing. Thank you team for the great sacrifice you each make to facilitate this event that so powerfully impacts those who come. May God bless you richly for your obedience and surrendered hearts."

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Our Father...

How did the Lord use the time at The Springs in your life? One woman wrote:
"I felt God telling me to come but I had no idea why. However, who are we to question, right? I enjoyed the first day but started to wish there was more time with others since I was not sure what to do with myself…by myself. Then Wednesday chapel talked about God as not just a father but my daddy when that hit me I began to cry I have always been told that God loved me but never the way The Springs did. Brought me to tears! God brought my walk with him to a new level of closeness. My walk and outlook has never been where I am now. Once that happened all the struggles I had been dealing with started to come out and forced me to address a lot of those things. Keep the prayer time. It is a huge part that I really needed.

"I loved the symbolism, rose, candle, the letter to ourselves! Great workshops! Wonderful job! Everything felt vital!"

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Word of God speak

This song and the slide show communicates the heart of The Springs.

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Just what I needed

We had a wonderful time at the retreat. Track 1 leads women through a private retreat; Track 2 offers a combination of group discussion and prayer and lots of time for solitude; Track 3 is up to you to decide what you'd like to do:

Laura wrote: "I appreciate the flexibility given on Track 3. To be able to choose to do as much or little with the group gave me a more renewed feeling and time with the Lord uninterrupted was kept as my priority. Thank you for not making it feel like I “should” do this or that. I was able to make The Springs just what I needed this time."

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Soaked in his love

"I needed quiet time with the Lord."

"I was able to be with the Lord and it was rich and blessed. I missed a few things by choice because I wanted or yearned to be alone with God longer. The rest and solitude I had here was so wonderful – I didn’t realize I needed it as much as I did. The chapels were really awesome – spirit-filled. Thank you all for making The Springs such a wonderful and beautiful time to be renewed and refreshed. I long to be with the Lord more and more as I spend quality time with him. He truly does satisfy."

"It was time to soak in his love so I might have it to share with others."

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Lavished with God's love

One woman wrote: "I had not been on this type of retreat before but had wanted to. So when my friend suggested I attend with her, I prayed and God clearly wanted me here. I came with expectations of much time alone with God and brought many of my own ideas and resources with me. I had heard God’s voice to attend The Springs but, as so typical of me, I then planned my own agenda. Thankfully, through your obedience and planning under the authority of the Holy Spirit my time here was not exactly what I anticipated but much, much more than I could have imagined. I have been drenched with his love reminded that God is not only King of the Universe, mighty, sovereign, great Jehovah but He is my Abba. I have wept over how He loves me and have gathered a long list of how he has lavished me with his love (Don’t you love that word – lavished). I have been able to not only experience the head knowledge but more abundantly the heart knowledge that “the everlasting (and unchanging) love of God lasts forever.”

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Springs North - April 2009

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The Lord meets us individually

How did the Lord use The Springs in your life?

"As I was in solitude, reading a book I had borrowed, the realization of the presence of God came over me and for the first time I knew my name was written in heaven. I wept by myself with the Lord."

"To quiet and calm my heart. To instruct me in the way that I should go."

"This time was like a cup of cold water to my soul. I loved meeting new people. I loved my small group and our meal times/prayer. I have been refreshed and reminded of the quiet place. God is good. Thank you for your service to us!"

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What's The Springs like?

We asked the women who came to the Springs how they would describe the retreat to others who had never been. Here's what they wrote:

• Chapel times, meals, instructive meetings, amidst times of silence and solitude.
• Only come if you’re serious about hearing from God and wanting to be loved.
• God giving you a gift of time with Him and you giving God a gift of your time.
• Have you ever longed for more time for your time with God – a day that you could study or pray without interruption? Then The Springs is for you!
• A time of physical rest and spiritual awakening, focused on your relationship with God.
• This has been a much needed “jump start” to listening and basking in God’s love. I feel spiritually renewed and energized.
• It’s a lot of alone time but some good group time also
• A time of renewal, rest and refreshment in the Lord. A time to be in the presence of God without any distractions or pressure – Laura
• Rest and restoration. Rest from our burdens and restoration for joining God in his work.

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Restore my soul

"Allowing service for Christ to steal our devotion to him is a radical failure in personal soul care. But it is one from which the practice of communing with Christ in times of solitude and silence can deliver us."(Willard, The Great Omission, 130)

How many times have we gotten to the place where we are absolutely empty, poured out, exhausted...and how many times have we found that the rest and refreshment of taking a nap, walking in a natural setting, reading our Bibles, and simply being silent and alone with the Lord has completely restored us? Every single time.

Silence, Solitude, and Time are our best friends...they are essential to our soul care.

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23

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Join Us!

We are looking forward to our retreat at the end of April!

The focus of our time will be on reconnecting with the Lord (as always) with a specific emphasis on prayer. We will use the Lord's Prayer as a focus of our chapel times, we'll reflect on our earliest memories of praying and think about what we've learned about prayer over the years. We'll even talk about how to use a journal as a glue to hold our prayer life together.
We hope you'll join us. Go to the NEWIM website to register.

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Drawing near to God

Sometimes we are afraid to draw near to God in prayer. Instead of coming close to him we pull away, clinging to our suspicion that He will not receive us.

Henri Nouwen encourages us: "Perhaps you can find your way to prayer by carefully listening to the words of the angels to Zechariah, Mary, the frightened shepherds, and the women at the tomb: "Don't be afraid." Don't be afraid of the One who wants to enter your most intimate space and invite you to let go of what you are clinging to so anxiously...

Don't be afraid to offer your hate, bitterness, disappointment, to the One who is love and only love. Even if you know you have little to show, don't be afraid to let it be seen. Often you will catch yourself wanting to receive your loving God by putting on a semblance of beauty, by holding back everything dirty and spoiled, by clearing just a little path that looks proper. But that is a fearful response, forced and artificial. Such a response exhausts you and turns your prayer into torment."

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Silence

Sometimes just the thought of a few hours of silence can freak us out.

Kathleen Norris writes about the reaction of one of her students to sitting in silence: "It's scary," a fifth grader complained. "Why?" I asked, and I believe that he got to the heart of it when he replied, "It's like we're waiting for something--it's scary!"

Exactly! When we're at The Springs we enjoy leisurely hours of silence and we are expectantly waiting for the Lord. The first time, it can be scary. Once we get used to the idea, it becomes one of the true gifts of the retreat. There is so much we can experience when we listen and wait. It really not actually very scary after all.

We come to understand what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote: "Be still and know that I am God."

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Rest

One of the gifts of The Springs is time to take a nap. It's usually one of the first things I do.

I may want to jump right into a time of prayer or Bible reading, but if I’m too tired, I can’t concentrate, I can’t reflect or think deeply or keep from nodding off when I close my eyes. What I need is a nap.

It's wonderful to have my own room so I can lay down and get the sleep my body needs. And that's OK!

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