The Sameness of God

This past weekend, the women's ministry of my church held our first-ever Ladies Retreat. We travelled up to Camp Casey Conference Center on Whidbey Island, WA. How beautiful it was to look out the window of our lovely (gigantic) house and watch deer grazing in the yard and sailboats out in the water just 500 feet away! I could get used to that. :o) It was so serene.

The theme of the weekend was "Loving Well." We used Beth Moore's "Retreat in a Box," and although I was at first a skeptic of using a template, it proved to be amazing. The Lord truly blessed us with that resource. Beth explained to us the importance of loving others (they will know we are Christians by our love...), and that the only way we can do that is if we are continually allowing God's love to fall on us. We must take time to receive God's ministry to our own hearts. It was beautiful message, and I think we all received it with openness.

The Lord totally blew me away with how He answered prayer for the retreat. From the beginning of the planning phase of the retreat, Psalm 127: 1 was our credo. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. We knew the truth of this passage, and we were in prayer the God would show up and change our hearts. We were quite aware that regardless of how much planning we did, if the Lord was not present, we would be wasting our time. I praise You, Jesus, for joining us this weekend and being our honored guest!!!

What a special time... This morning, I am back into the daily grind. I got up with my husband, prepared his breakfast and lunch and got him out the door, did a short workout, and then I started to get in the Word. The interesting thing is that I found myself resorting to some bad habits I had before this amazing retreat. I found myself unsure where to study, unsure of my standing with God, and with little confidence to even talk with Him. These are doubts that I believe that the Devil plants in my head to keep me from drawing close to God.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I had to make a deliberate mental acknowledgement that the God that I knew so intimately on our retreat this past weekend is the same God that I meet in my living room. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; just because my mood or my feelings about God vary does not mean that He is any less consistent. He is always there when I want to talk.

The Lord Jesus is powerful to produce a sustaining work in my life regardless of where I am and what I am doing. Lord, please help me to remember this truth. Oh, how I long for you to produce fruit in me that lasts!