A Weekend With God
Dear Friends,
As an early birthday present Jason paid for me to go on a Women's Weekend run by the Inspiring Women Team from CWR. I was really looking forward to it, and decided to go alone rather than with a group of friends. Jason and I agreed that I needed time on my own with God and time to rest and be refreshed. I went with high expectations and hopes of hearing from God.
As I entered the hall of the building where I would be staying for the weekend, I looked around me at all the women there. Everyone seemed to have come with friends and they were all chatting happily together. My immediate thought was: "Why on earth did I make the decision to come by myself?!" I felt awkward and very much out of my comfort zone. You see, I'm an introvert, and while I am happy to chat one-to-one or with a few friends, I struggle when it comes to socialising in a crowd.
As I settled in to the single room I had been allocated, I spent time with God asking him to be with me and help me during the weekend. It also helped to know that my family back home were praying for me.
Even though this group of women weren't known to me at the start of this weekend, each one of us loved God which gave us something in common and a starting point to getting to know one another.
They were a lovely group and it was a blessing to have fellowship with them over mealtimes and coffee breaks. And I still allowed myself some time to enjoy being on my own and not feel guilty that I wasn't being sociable all the time.
They were a lovely group and it was a blessing to have fellowship with them over mealtimes and coffee breaks. And I still allowed myself some time to enjoy being on my own and not feel guilty that I wasn't being sociable all the time.
Quite early on during the weekend I realised that I was not going to hear from God in the way I had been hoping for.
However, God revealed to me as I spent time with him (and also with the added advice my sister passed on to me via text messages) that I had come on this weekend with my own agenda and that God had a different agenda for me. To be honest, I hadn't even thought to consider what God's agenda was for my weekend.
I don't know about you, but often I come to God with my own expectations, wanting him to do something for me or speak to me in a certain way. I come to him with my own agenda. Yet, God wants me to come to him, not because I want something from him, but because I love him and want to be with him. He wants me to enjoy being in his presence. The Psalmist said in Psalm 27:4 "I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple." (HCSB)
All God wants is to be with me and for me to be with him. For me to give him my time, my attention, my being.
We have that wonderful promise of God's in James 4:8: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (NKJV)
God's agenda for me that weekend was to enjoy some quality time with him. He wanted it to be a time for me to rest - physically and spiritually. To have space for solitude and quiet. And some time to enjoy fellowship with other like-minded women.
Jesus gives the following invitation to each one of us: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NLT).
When I realised what God was offering me I fully embraced the weekend and was blessed more than I can say. God gifted me with a very precious time.
On the Sunday afternoon, one of the Inspiring Women team gave each of us a verse. The verse I was given was taken from the passage we had been focusing on all weekend. The verse was Matthew 14:23 "After he [Jesus] had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." (NIV). Jesus had been busy preaching to a crowd of over 5,000 people, but he knew the importance of getting away from everything and everyone to spend some time alone with his Father. He made it a priority in his life.
This weekend reminded me that it's important for me to do the same. To have regular and quality alone time with God.
To Think About:
How can you make sure that your agenda for your life is the same as God's? Are you willing to submit to his agenda for you?
Have you experienced the joy of spending regular, quality time with God? What blessing has that brought to your life?
What would help you to make time with God a priority? What may be stopping you from doing this? What will you do about it?
Vicki
I don't know about you, but often I come to God with my own expectations, wanting him to do something for me or speak to me in a certain way. I come to him with my own agenda. Yet, God wants me to come to him, not because I want something from him, but because I love him and want to be with him. He wants me to enjoy being in his presence. The Psalmist said in Psalm 27:4 "I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple." (HCSB)
All God wants is to be with me and for me to be with him. For me to give him my time, my attention, my being.
We have that wonderful promise of God's in James 4:8: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (NKJV)
God's agenda for me that weekend was to enjoy some quality time with him. He wanted it to be a time for me to rest - physically and spiritually. To have space for solitude and quiet. And some time to enjoy fellowship with other like-minded women.
Jesus gives the following invitation to each one of us: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NLT).
When I realised what God was offering me I fully embraced the weekend and was blessed more than I can say. God gifted me with a very precious time.
On the Sunday afternoon, one of the Inspiring Women team gave each of us a verse. The verse I was given was taken from the passage we had been focusing on all weekend. The verse was Matthew 14:23 "After he [Jesus] had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." (NIV). Jesus had been busy preaching to a crowd of over 5,000 people, but he knew the importance of getting away from everything and everyone to spend some time alone with his Father. He made it a priority in his life.
This weekend reminded me that it's important for me to do the same. To have regular and quality alone time with God.
To Think About:
How can you make sure that your agenda for your life is the same as God's? Are you willing to submit to his agenda for you?
Have you experienced the joy of spending regular, quality time with God? What blessing has that brought to your life?
What would help you to make time with God a priority? What may be stopping you from doing this? What will you do about it?
Vicki
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