I highly recommend the art of the personal retreat.

I discovered the benefit of the personal retreat about 15 years ago or so.  I went to visit a friend out of town and ended up having to stay in a hotel room by myself.  I’d never done that before.

And I loved it.

I had unexpected, undistracted time by myself.  And with God.  And since then, I’ve tried to make it a habit at least once a year.  I went on a retreat this weekend. Just me, my Bible, my journal, a hotel room and an open heart.   The king sized bed and fancy folded towels in the bathroom were just a bonus!

I didn’t even have an agenda.  No pressing, urgent needs to talk to God about.  Just a need for alone time with Him.  And knowledge of the promise that when we seek Him, we find Him.  We had some good chats.  And He led me to some obscure Old Testament passages I’d never seen before, passages that I have a feeling may just show up on these blog pages soon.  Can’t wait to share them with you.

But for right now, I just wanted to give you my recommendation to get away alone with God every once in a while.  Pack your Bible, a journal and an open heart.  Just don’t pack your agenda.  Let God choose that.

And He may just take you to some unexpected places.

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.  Matthew 14:23

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:6

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  Deuteronomy 4:29