A Better Place to Be

This past spring we held a ladies retreat that was more than we could have imagined.  God left us in awe at His weaving together a perfect plan and His gracious redemption.  Many ladies asked for another retreat “soon” so they could bring their loved ones.  My husband and I prayed, set aside a fall weekend to host the next retreat and began promoting.  We went into it open to God’s will whether the retreat would take place or not.  The deadline came for signing up and many ladies who wanted to come were not able for one reason or another.  I hesitated to cancel the weekend with fear of letting people down, but knew with few attendees we simply couldn't have it. 

 

“Maybe there’s somewhere else He needs us to be.” 

My husband’s words came with an overwhelming sense of peace and a whispered ‘yes’ in my heart.  I knew it was the right thing to do and we decided to wait until next spring to have our next retreat.  If I’m honest I was a little disappointed, but God was allowing me the opportunity to surrender to His will and understand that His plans are greater than mine.  After all, we prayed about this weekend for weeks, so surely there was somewhere else God intended for us to be. 

I expected “big things” to happen in place of the retreat that weekend.  I really did. 

I expected there to be some WOW moment that made the reason for changed plans clear. 

But that weekend that we left open for God to take us where He needed us to be…

 

 

We visited an older couple who have become precious friends over the years. 

We took time to have conversations about fears and needed prayers.

We took the kids to a corn maze, rode a hayride, fed the “moo-tows” and had a picnic with a beautiful view of God's glory displayed through the autumn leaves. 

On another day, we brought home four new girls to our hen house that we have anxiously been waiting for.   Then we went to the farm and had dinner with my husband’s parents. 

We took the kids to ride bikes on the new cement feeding pad and watched the stars. 

And we laughed...a lot.

 

The transition between summer and fall always proves a busy season in our lives.   This year we have been vacationing, beginning a year of homeschool, starting up a new business, finishing projects, gathering and preserving a harvest, in the midst of raising three kids.  All good things, all blessings God has graciously provided but in all our good doing, we needed time to just be.    

When our good doing outweighs our simply being, we are left exhausted and emptied.  And does this world truly need more exhausted, emptied, burnt-out, run-dry, do-it-yourself Christ-claimers? 

Or is what this world needs truly those who have learned to live life to the full and live it well and breathe it in deep? Because what it needs are those who not only claim-Christ but who outwardly live like Christ.  Those who aren’t afraid to vulnerably show a dependence on a mighty God to get through their days. 

So in all this I was reminded that He knows our hearts, the very depths of our beings and what is needed there.  He knows that “big things” and “WOW moments” are found in the times we slow down to breathe in this life He has given, more so than the times the world defines as grand. 

 

 

 

Take time to breathe. 
Don't get in such a hurry to do more that you miss the blessing of the moment.
 

In all your busyness, maybe God has a better place for you to be. 

 

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.  Then joy will accompany his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.”  Ecclesiastes 8:15