Monday, April 14, 2014
Wilderness Retreat Reflection
Hello! I hope that everyone has been able to rest up a little bit after this weekend and that y'all are recovering physically from the activities. Now, it is time to recap and reflect what you have learned. It is important to realize what was fun and what was cool, but it is equally, if not more, important to realize what was difficult and what challenged you. With that being said, let's grow! What was your favorite part of the retreat? What was your favorite session with the spiritual disciplines and why did it speak to you? What was the greatest challenge you faced during this retreat? What was something that you learned about yourself? What did you learn about God or about your relationship with God during this Wilderness Retreat?
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I had a very relaxing and great time on the wilderness retreat this past weekend. I felt it was exactly what I needed for where I am now. I would have to say my favorite part of the retreat was a combination of zip lining and the worship. I loved the community that was present in both forms of worship. My favorite session with the spiritual disciplines would have to be the one on prayer and journaling. I felt that it allowed me to simply be in the presence of God and enjoy the nature around me. I felt it helped me not worry about the craziness of life but to simply be in creation. The greatest challenge I faced during the retreat was making sure that I spent time journaling; by this I mean I always wanted to be with people and had to convince myself when to get away so that I could process my thoughts and feelings through journaling. One thing I learned about myself this week is how much I let people pleasing and worry control my life and how I need to create a Rule of Life to bring the people pleasing and worry to a healthy moderation. Overall I have learned that I need to reorient my life and allow myself to depend on God, like I did this past summer, a lot more. This retreat has brought me closer to God and hopefully will help my relationship with Him to grow more.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the retreat much more than I thought I would. One of the things I thought was really cool was on Sunday While we were doing our morning worship I was in a place where I could see the trees wave as we sang Hosanna. It was a great reminder of how the events would have played out back then. One of my favorite Disciplines that we went over was when we did Journaling/meditation. I am not a good Journaler or Journal writer maybe? Anyway I did more meditating than Journaling, and part of that I spent wading in the stream. It reminded me of a couple things. First that there will always be stones in our way that will cause us to slip or stumble. The second thing that I realized was that when I was not focused it was harder to walk around and especially to skip rocks, but when I was focused it became easier to do both of these things. It's the same way with our walks with God. When we are unfocused, and dis-centered we have trouble to doing what we are meant to do, but when we are focused and allow him to help recenter us we are able to do what we are meant to do. The biggest challenge for me was definitely the zip line. I do not like heights so to be that high up and trusting my life with the wire was definitely a stretch at first. After a while it was fun though.
ReplyDeleteThis retreat was amazing. Jenn said it best, God really showed off for us through the PERFECT weather and His creation! It was amazing. My favorite part of the retreat was just getting to know everyone better. God is so present through all of the ministry majors and it's so cool to see us all getting together and doing what we're most passionate about! One of the hardest parts of the retreat was the ropes course. (Haha I know that's kind of a lame answer.) I was super nervous and scared most of the time, but it was cool to be able to finish. I guess I learned that I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was. I really liked the opportunities we had to confess and discuss with our small groups. That meant a lot to me, and I learned so much about my small group girls as well as myself. This retreat was amazing. Let's go again! :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the retreat! However, I honestly wasn't looking forward to it, because I had a lot of homework to get done that weekend. But, once I was there I had a blast! My favorite part of the retreat was our hikes on Saturday. I thought the hikes were a relaxing time to just spend time with everyone! I also thought the retreat was very refreshing spiritually. I was in a pretty good spot spiritually when we went, because it was right after rival week. However, I thought it was very appropriate that we practiced spiritual disciplines together. I honestly didn't have a favorite spiritual discipline, but I enjoyed all of them. I also really enjoyed our time in small groups! My small group was awesome and I really appreciated the conversations that we had together! This retreat will always be one of my greatest memories of mvnu and I am thankful I had the opportunity to go!
ReplyDeleteI really liked meeting the zip line instructor for the group behind us, her name was Megan. But on a more real note, I did think about a lot of things and was able to get some great insight from some people I talked to and my small group. I learned and am still learning how truly impure and prideful my motives to do ministry are and that I have the need to control every little thing that comes my way, even how a person response to a conversation with them. I am still trying to discover how I can abandon my own need for control and my own agendas for ministry and trust that the Lord will work in and through me. So far...I suck at it.
ReplyDeleteIronically my favorite discipline and hardest thing i dealt with was the silence and solitude. I'm not a quiet person, and i think y'all would agree with me. For some reason, however, i loved the silence and solitude time. I never take time to just be quiet and let God speak. I learned that i have to let go a lot of things in my life so that God can have them fully. I have been holding onto so much lately. My human nature won't allow me to fully give everything to him. This weekend taught me I'm not strong enough, and i don't have to be. I just have to let God take it from me so i can experience freedom.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorite part was the small group time. Our group was amazing and we all learned a little more about each other and ourselves. We were all vulnerable and real and realized that we are all dealing with similar things, and none of us even knew. That being said, my favorite session was Olivia's. Being able to find silence in the space we were in was awesome. Being surrounded by God's creation while reflecting on the weekend helped me realize that while things in life my seem bigger than me, God is bigger than all of it. I don't have to be strong all the time, and that's ok.
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