To Live and Breathe

A few days ago, I returned from a very special retreat called Ava. Some of you may have read Tom’s blog about the retreat called Traction in Switzerland that he was blessed to attend shortly after we began our home assignment time. Because of how deeply Tom was blessed by his time at Traction, he decided to register me for this women’s retreat by faith, believing that God would provide for me to attend it! (What a guy! 🙂 ) Through the generosity of many people who love and care for us and our ministry, God did indeed provide every penny needed for me to be a part of this women’s retreat for global workers! Wow! I am so very humbled!

Ava is a retreat designed to be a life-giving time away for women in global ministry who may be in need of time to renew their minds, refocus their hearts, and, most importantly, with God. The name of the retreat comes from the name “Eve” and has a special meaning, “To live and to breathe.”

I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t sure what God had in mind for my time at Ava. It was clear that He was sending me, though, so I set my heart to embrace every aspect of what this time had to offer, though I wasn’t quite sure what that was.

The beautiful location for the Ava retreat was in a mountainside pueblo in the south of Spain called Mijas. This place was truly perfect to facilitate time alone with the Lord! It was safe, stunningly beautiful, and offered seemingly endless places to walk, sit, pray, and just explore. The first day I was there, I walked 6.5 miles without even realizing it. I was just enjoying the scenery!

Each day at the Ava retreat would begin with all of us gathering together for a time of praise and worship and a time of teaching. The speaker for the retreat, Nell Stiff, was a breath of fresh air as she brought us incredibly challenging lessons each day. Starting with Eve in the Garden of Eden, Nell walked us through the stories of several women and one man in the Bible. In each story, she illustrated important dynamics of each person’s relationship with God and showed the beautiful ways that God met each of them perfectly where they were in need.

Through the lives of each person we studied, we were led to meditate on many truths relating to how God always pursues his children. Each of these lessons impacted me deeply, and I felt like they had been meant just for me.

After the teaching time each morning, we would gather in discussion groups to dig deeper into the content of the lesson and have the opportunity to share more personally with our group how God had used His word to challenge us and encourage us.

This seems like a good place to mention another really cool aspect of this retreat- the other women! Before leaving, I didn’t know a single person who would be at this retreat! Over 70 women serving in more than 40 countries were at Ava, and it was nothing short of inspiring to meet many of them! I left with a renewed sense of how much God is doing in this world! He is at work in every corner of the globe through people who are bravely stepping out in faith in the ways God is asking them to! It’s really challenging and encouraging to now know many of them, to have heard their stories, and come to understand the unique challenges each is facing as they serve their worthy Savior.

Ok, back to the daily schedule of Ava. In the afternoons, each of us would have a scheduled meeting with a counselor, a life coach, a spiritual director, or a doctor. My personal schedule ended up putting me with a counselor each day, and I also had one session with a doctor and one with a spiritual director. After meeting with the counselor, I would do my best each day to take personal time to process all we had discussed, pray, and write out my thoughts and takeaways.

Like I said at the top, I wasn’t sure what the Holy Spirit wanted to teach me at Ava, but man, did He make it clear! I felt like Jesus was looking me in the eyes and saying to me as he said to Martha in Luke 10:41, “Beth, Beth, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” Each and every day the Holy Spirit was faithful to meet me and peel back deep layers of areas that I needed Him to help me process. Each theme He lovingly and gently revealed to me was used to restore my soul and build me up in Him. It was more impactful than I could have imagined.

So all I can say is thank you. I thank God for gifting me this time of retreat, I thank the ministry of Catalyst, who so wisely organized this special time, and of course, I am deeply thankful to each person who gave financially so that I could have this time of spiritual refreshment. To God be the glory!