Sacred Space: Mini Spiritual Retreat Guide

You don't have 48 hours. Maybe you don't even have 8. But what if 30 minutes could open something in your soul that years of busyness has kept closed?

In this episode, I introduce a mini spiritual retreat for women titled You Are Known: Who God Is and Who You Are to God— a three-session guided experience designed to be done in your car, your closet, a park bench, or wherever you can find a quiet corner of the world. No travel required. Just you, your Bible, a pen, and an honest heart.

Each session is designed to help you deepen your trust in God, especially when it’s hard. It creates quiet time with God, and to takes you somewhere specific: 

Who God says you are

Who God is to you, and 

How the human emotions of Jesus might be the key to finally believing He understands what you're carrying.

This one is for you if your relationship with God has felt distant, routine, or complicated by old wounds. It's for you if you've felt like God is somewhere out there but not quite here with you. And it's for you if you're ready to make space for something real.

I'll walk you through how the retreat works and share a sample from Session 1 so you can see exactly what you're stepping into.

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Transcript

What if you could remove yourself from busyness and the noise of everyday life. A retreat from the seriousness of life, along with responsibilities, people, projects, and technology. A time to open up space for God. A time to gather your inner thoughts and feelings, quiet anxiety and worry, get real with yourself, and get honest with God.

Retreat. Get away. Relax. Are you enticed or did you laugh at the absurdity of you finding a minuscule amount of time to get away? Understood. Eight, ten, or 48 hours for a retreat isn’t doable. It’s so difficult to break away. 

What if you could retreat for 30 to 75 minutes? Surprisingly, 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time can do wonders for your nervous system, not to mention your soul.

A Mini-Spiritual Retreat is food for the mind and soul. It’s moments to develop, deepen a trust in God. A time and place to refresh the heart and mind. 

This is a sacred place.

Here’s how it works. You choose the place and the time to retreat. You choose to keep this appointment with yourself, deny distractions, and give every bit of yourself to the experience. 

You will prepare the environment of your choice in advance so your session notes, Bible, pen, notebook and maybe even some tissues are available in that space. I’ve retreated on the floor of my closet, my car, a park bench, whatever works for you.

The mini spiritual retreat I designed is called Sacred Space: Your Spiritual Retreat to Develop and Deepen Trust in God.

It comprises three sessions, and you invest the time required to get what you want from it. Each session can last between 30 minutes to 75 minutes. Your choice.

Session 1 – Who You Are to God prompts you to consider what God thinks of you according to the Bible, not what you’ve assumed or been told.

Session 2, - Who Is God to You asks you to take an honest look at the depth of your relationship with God, your perceptions, and consider if it’s time to redefine how you relate to God based on his character, reliability, and intent for you.

Session 3 – Relating to Jesus is an in-depth look at the variety of emotions and reactions of Jesus during his life based on the Bible. Particularly the emotions Jesus experiences and how these emotions and response are like your own.

Then you will determine how this information might transform your ability to trust Jesus and believe He knows what you go through.

Recently, a friend and I were discussing the void in his life after a loved one passed away. He said, “I haven’t been back to church. I think I’m a little mad at God.” It was a beautiful confession to hear. I affirmed my friend’s feelings and I added, “God understands” because God does understand. 

Jesus wept and mourned at the loss of friends. He lived with the same emotions as you do. I believe I stand on solid ground when I say, “God understands”.

God’s primary mission is to bring us back to the relationship we had in the Garden. 

God wants an authentic relationship with you based on truth. This means you place on the table those grudges, questions, doubts, and hard feelings toward God. Right out in the open so you and God can identify how you can move forward. Because those thoughts and feelings hold you prisoner in emotional turmoil or in mental tangles. 

Each session is designed to help you deepen your trust in God, especially when it’s hard. It creates quiet time with God, and to takes you somewhere specific: who God says you are, who God is to you, and how the very human emotions of Jesus might be the key to finally believing He understands what you're carrying.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Session 1 to give you an idea of what to expect during your mini Spiritual Retreat.

First, you’ll read the reflection notes. Here’s a sample:

God’s primary mission is to bring us back to the relationship we had in the Garden. 

But like all relationships, it must grow and mature, and this “trusting God” thing is uncomfortable. 

The Bible says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). 

Lou Giglio says “That’s seldom comfortable.” (Goliath Must Fall, pg 120.) 

Trust in God can be tangible because it’s based on characteristics of reliability, pure motive and intent.

The number one roadblock concerns your experience with trusting God. If you feel He failed you in the past, you’ve may hurt, be angry, or bitter and this is a barrier. If you define God as punitive and unresponsive, this is an additional barrier. Getting to know God at a relationship level is how you find His intentions toward you. It means learning who God is to you and who you are to God.

After you finish the reflection notes, you will look over the verses helping you identify “Who You Are to God”. You’ll answer the questions. Here’s a sample verse and question to give you an idea.

The verse comes from Genesis 16:7 ESV: 

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness… And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” 

Here’s your contemplation question: God knew her exact location reaching out in her lonely and discouraging moment. God reaches out to you. God knows exactly where you are. What does the verse reveal about God’s intent toward Hagar? What does it reveal about God’s intent toward you? 

The point of the question is to help you mull over any doubts. Challenge your beliefs. Ask yourself if your perceptions are obscured or based on false information. 

Once you’ve delved into your heart and mind, you’ll end the session with a prayer. One is provided or you can create your own based on what you’ve learned.

Once you’ve completed the reading and questions, keep your spiritual center open and receptive. God may reveal a truth you weren’t able to see or understand before you entered into the retreat.

A retreat opens up space for God to meet you and you to meet God. It’s a time to nurture and feed the soul.

Go to the episode description for the link to the spiritual retreat or go directly to anchorednotanxious.com  Let me know how it goes for you. I’m inspired by your relationship with God and your discoveries as you grow your trust in Him.

Alright, until next time