When we launched registration for the Velvet Ashes Retreat, the thing we kept hearing from women across the world was, “I really need this!”
The Retreat was an invitation for all of us women to actually do what our souls were longing for.
To stop. To rest. To renew.
Our hope and prayer is that the Retreat experience inspired women that they can find rest and refreshment right where they are… if they will actually take the time to do it. What if you practiced your own half-day retreat monthly or weekly? How would that change the state of your soul?
What does “soul care” really mean in the daily routine of life? Is it just a spiritual term to mask selfish desires? Or is it a lifeline? A key to surviving and thriving in a life of service?
We want to know, what does soul care look like for you? How do you do it? What happens if you don’t? What’s been your story?
Bring your link ups to The Grove beginning Thursday 6pm EST.
If you’re looking for a deep exhale, you’ll find it here at Velvet Ashes this week.
“Consider it pure joy”…
We are in Asia for the purpose of business as overseas work. The place where we live stinks of corruption and business is often conducted unethically. Expats are offered positions within these companies and wooed with fancy houses, cars and vacations. And, more often than not, their good intentions of instilling ethics and driving pure business are replaced with rationalization and falling into the “when in Rome” trap. It is depressing but altogether predictable and the trail of Christians behaving badly is well-trodden.
Often, it is difficult to see a silver lining. Daily, I make the choice of whether or not my soul will be affected by outrage and frustration at the behavior of humans who know better…who don’t have the excuse that they were raised this way…who claim to love Jesus. Always, I am aware of the energy and discipline that is required to not become sour and cynical. The temptation to disengage is powerful…and, that the wrestling with all of the above is torture to my soul…when I choose to not cast my cares upon Him.
My dad told me this morning to “Consider it pure joy…in all circumstances…” I’m learning what that means…that it requires intentionality and sincere prayer. That God sees all and that my behavior and choices are the only thing that I can control. I’m learning that I need to turn the care of my soul over to my Lord which, in turn, means that I need to turn the things that torture my soul over to the Lord. It is difficult when a nasty glare, unkind word and “defriending” on facebook, feels so good…temporarily. But finding my joy in Christ, in all circumstances is not temporary. It is sustainable and powerful and the only defense for a healthy soul.