Today is an invitation. An invitation to get away with God and allow him to renew your spirit. My sister, I don’t know what has your burdened, or weary, worried, or rushed, but God wants to revive you from the inside out with a personal encounter with him.
My prayer for you today is that you are swept away by the presence of God in the sweetest, most indescribable and unexpected ways. You know, God created this whole magnificent world so that you would be in absolute awe of him. Romans 1:20 says, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the inhabitants of the earth stand in awe of God.” His entire creation is calling you to the awe of your Creator. With this miraculous beauty surrounding you, you have no excuse for not knowing there is a God behind it all.
When is the last time you stood in awe of God? When in the past week were you swept away by his divine existence in the details of your life?
Yesterday I arrived to our Retreat house in Venice, Italy. WOWZERS. A little back story on this house – it looked entirely too good to be true. And how many of you know when it looks to good to be true, you should run the other way? That was this house. Online, the photos looked AI generated. Entirely too perfect. Every detail was simply unimaginable. And the tell-tell sign, it had no reviews of previous tenants. Listen, I’m a pro … you DON’T DO THAT!
6 months ago while planning this retreat, I contacted the owner and basically said, “I need proof this house is for real because obviously those photos are not real.” The owner kindly explained he had spent the past 10 years meticulously remodeling this 3 story home in the heart of Venice to be a dream piece and we would be among the very first to stay there. Then he offer to do a facetime from the property to prove it was real.
So, I was in. As the date of this retreat grew near, I became more excited and yet more nervous. Was it real? Walking down the winding ally ways that are the maze of Venice, I arrived to the front door and I was absolutely swept away. The house was literally EVERYTHING. I stood in the private garden and wept. How was this real life? How do I get to be here? How do I get to bring 14 strangers together to experience this perfect paradise together? God met me in that garden in the sweetest way and said, “My girl, what I have for you is too good to be true, it’s impossibly perfect because I am your God of the impossible. You can believe it.”
I’m swept away by his divine existence in these details. How sweet of God to hand create experiences for his girls that are too good to be true.
But how often are we invited into these encounters with him, but we’re too busy, too rushed and too distracted to even notice. How many times have you dismissed yourself from opportunities God declared possible for you, but you couldn’t imagine stepping far enough out of your little comfort zone to show up for the experience. He wants to sweep you away girl, but you’re going to have to lose your footing and take a flying leap of faith.
Together, we’ve been studying the life of Elijah in the Old Testament. Where we last left off was Elijah had come to his breaking point and wanted to curl up and just die. God so sweetly sent an angel to give him a nap and a snack instead. Then that nap and snack supernaturally strengthened him for the 200 mile journey to a scheduled encounter with the Almighty on Mount Sinai.
Now, we read about the encounter Elijah had so your heart and head can be prepared for the encounter God has waiting for you as well. 1 Kings 19: 11-14, “As Elijah stood on the mountain,