Showing posts with label rejuvenate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rejuvenate. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

Lily's Story

A while ago, we were up in Detroit Lakes sharing with a church. We had a really great time up there and we were really blessed by the wonderful community.  While we were there, we met a woman named Lily*.


When we arrived at the church and got into the sanctuary before the service began, I took a second to look around.  In a room full of people chatting and greeting each other, I saw one head bowed and hands folded.  An older woman was deep in prayer before the service began.  I noticed her against the contrast of chatting but didn't think much of it until after the service.


We had a fellowship meal afterward, and Lily stopped us in line and asked if we would stop by her table to talk with her. When we had a second, we broke away and went to visit her table.


She told us about her many friends and family that were in religious traditions focused on works and not salvation by grace through faith.  As we talked with her, you could see her heart breaking for those that knew who God was, but had never had a true relationship with Him.  The more she talked, the more we could see how emotional of a subject this was for her.  She told us how glad she was for our ministry and promised to pray for us.


We are very passionate about reaching lost people in western Europe, but I was truly challenged by the fervency of this woman.  We need to continually ask God to break our hearts and show us the world through His eyes. Our prayer is that we can have a heart like Lily's for the lost people around us.


How is God breaking your heart for the people around you? 


Do you need him to break your heart again?




*Lily isn't her real name
Photo credit is here user TACLUDA on rgbstock.com

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Three Rs...

When I was little, I learned in school that the three R's stood for "reduce, recycle, reuse". Taking care of the environment certainly stuck in my mind! But this past week, I decided that the three Rs most important in our current phase of life are words like rest, refresh and rejuvenate.

This week, Nate and I drove up to a family cabin on Lake Nebagamon, WI to spend 2 days on a spiritual retreat. The retreat is something required of us by WorldVenture, to help ensure that we are staying mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally healthy during each phase of the process as we prepare for the mission field. We really love that WorldVenture values this and pushes us to rest and get away.

Our time at the lake was exactly what we needed. We spent time in prayer and study, focused on worshiping God and reading about what true worship is. We read the chapter on worship from Richard Foster's book Celebration of Discipline and each of us studied worship on our own through sermons, books and scripture. We also spent time resting and relaxing. After a few days, we definitely came home rejuvenated!

Here are a few photos from our time at the cabin...

A favorite spot - sitting at the end of the dock gazing out over the water

Sitting in front of the fire

The view of the cabin from the shoreline

Reading time

A great way to start the day - a good book and a cup of coffee!


When was the last time you took a spiritual retreat? It can be hard to get away amidst the busy-ness of life, but you will come back refreshed. I highly recommend it!