#378: Mentoring Moment: Retreat

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Today's theme is the word retreat. Now, this has many different definitions, but, cj, why don't you share the encouragement that you have for us today on this theme of retreat?

I was just thinking about, you know, we've done many of these virtual writing retreats, and I just felt like the Lord wanted me to actually focus on that word.

You know, we. We could break it down. You know, obviously, we're virtual. You know, we're. We're not in person. But we've all come here to write, right? You know, you naturally want to get some writing done. That's kind of the thought behind these. But the retreat is. Is something that I want to look at more specifically, because how many know the Lord does have something a little different for each of us here today and tomorrow, it's not going to look exactly the same for Shirley as it is for Margaret and Stephanie compared to Ken. You know, it's going to look a little different in what you do. But I want to give you a couple definitions, and there are a few definitions that Webster's gives us regarding retreat, and some of you did allude to retreating from an enemy, which is. Is one of the primary definitions, but there's also secondary and third and fourth definitions that we read, and I want to read you a couple of those. So one of them is a place of privacy or safety. Another word is refuge. Okay, so we could actually even call these. These times together virtual writing refuges. You know, I. I think that would aptly fit as well. We're all kind of taking refuge, and we are specifically cloistering ourselves in order to get some writing done or move along in the process of where we're at. And then a second definition I want to share today is a period of group withdrawal. I like that group. So we're all a group here. A time of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction. And, you know, there's a specific passage that I wanted to look at in. In Mark, chapter six, verses 30 through 32. And just to give you a little.

Background here, Jesus had sent out his disciples on a ministry trip. He'd given him specific instructions about what he. How he wanted to go about this. And now they have returned from that journey, and I want to read as we pick up In Mark, Chapter 6, it says, the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. How many of you ever been so busy that you just didn't even have a chance to eat? You just went from one errand to the next, or one task to the next, or one person to the next because you had 12 appointments, you know, scheduled that day, and you just can't even fit in eating.

And some of us have, have recognized ahead of time, okay, maybe I should bring a smoothie or something that is going to travel well with me and so that I at least slip it in in the two minutes that I have to breathe, you know, in between all these appointments. Well, this is the picture. We get these, these, these disciples, these apostles that Jesus appointed. They didn't even have time to eat because they were so busy. And it says here.

Jesus said to them, and these are the three words I really want us to focus on. He says to them, and this is the niv.

Come with me, Come with me. In other words, let's retreat.

Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. I want to say that that is good news for us here this morning. Some of you have had busy weeks. Some of you have had trials that tested you to the limit. Some of you may have felt like giving up. Some of you have been really busy, and you've got all kinds of things you want to share. You want to just share, share, share with Jesus with each other. You had a fantastic, successful week with your marketing, you sold some books, you saw God use you in powerful ways, and you're excited to share that. And here we read these disciples, they come back, they've got all kinds of things they could share. In fact, they may have even said, jesus, we need to capitalize on this momentum. We need to really, like, draw the crowds now because the momentum is, is here. We could set up a big tent. We could have revival meetings. Can you imagine, you know, just the, the stories that are going to happen. And what does Jesus say? Come away with me. We're going to get away, guys. We're going to come just by ourselves to a desolate place and we're going to rest. And then it says, so they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

That's Jesus's invitation. I believe, for many of you this morning. Some of you are going to get a lot of words written today and tomorrow. But for others, your specific role here in this particular virtual writing retreat is that word retreat. You're most likely going to spend your first hour, two hours, could be the whole day today, just retreating where you're taking up Jesus's invitation, where he says, come with me, Come with me and let's spend time together. And that. Come with me. And that spending time with Jesus and being with him in a solitary place is going to lead to something even more powerful, perhaps tomorrow or what happens in the next week or weeks to come. And so I want to really encourage you to listen to the Lord and what he's saying to you today.

And don't be afraid. I. I want to give you all permission to say, you don't have to write a thousand words, you don't have to write 2,000 words. I want to give you permission to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen, as Dr. Ladonna said earlier, to get in alignment with what the Lord has for you, almost let those, you know, you think of a jar that you take some, maybe river water and it's kind of cloudy, and you shake it all up and it takes time for that sediment to drop to the bottom and then for the clarity to come to where you can see through that glass jar again clearly. For some of you, it's going to take some time here today to let some sediment from the week fall to the bottom to where you have that clarity. And you're like, oh, okay, I, I have a direction that, that I, I know you're calling me to today, Lord, or tomorrow. So I'm giving you permission to really focus on the word retreat of virtual writing retreat. And to say.

There'S no cookie cutter way that we do these. Yes, we all come together thinking this is a virtual writing retreat. We would love to get some writing done. And some of you are in the position, you're like, let's do this, I'm ready. But others of you need to just sit and let those waters settle to become glassy. And then you're in a position to partake of any productivity the Lord wants to do through you, in and through you today and tomorrow. So that's your permission today, is to take Jesus's invitation to come with me to a solitary place and rest. Especially after such a busy week where you have gone to and fro you. Maybe some of you felt like you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off. You just don't know which direction you're sitting down. And this Sitting down feels wonderful to you right now? It's. It just feels wonderful. Let that wash over you. Just let it wash over you. Take deep breaths and say, ah. You know, I'm in a place right now where I can just rest because I've set aside time to come to this retreat and God has some great things in store for you. It may not be in the form of 15,000 words. It may be in the form of him downloading things into you that really bring refreshment over these next couple days. And so that's my. My word of encouragement to you today.

Yes. And, you know, it's easy sometimes to get focused on the numbers, right, the word count, or if you're working on marketing for, you know, the number of things that you did. Like yesterday we hosted our solo email swap toolkit, and I said, you can come to the retreat and work on sending out your pitch and, you know, all of these things. And yes, all of those things are good, but what's the order? You know, it's. We need to hear from God first, right? And it reminds me of that story of the two men who were trying to chop down a tree, and one just was like, chopping, chopping, chopping. And it's like, you know, it would go faster if you stopped and sharpened your ax. And he's like, no, I can't stop. I have to get this done, you know, and just keep chopping away. Whereas the other man knew if he would just take a few minutes, right, just a few minutes to sharpen his ax, then everything would go much faster, smoother, better, easier. And so some of you may need to take like the first session or the first 15 minutes or whatever it is just to sharpen your axe, right? To hear from the Lord. And one word from the Lord can mean more than 20,000 that you write out of your own strength, right? And as my friend Shay Vines says, go at the pace of God's grace. And that may look different every day. There may be some. Some of you that you've kind of been stuck and instead of needing to. To slow down and. And savor, you just need to get going. You just need to get going. You just need to begin writing those words. For some of you, you've been going on a breakneck speed all week, and you just need to just rest and hear from the Lord and settle your soul, all of those things. But it is good when we come to the Lord, and I even say even one minute business meetings with God can bring clarity that days or months of Us grinding in our own strength cannot. Amen. So it's not a matter of how much time we spend with him. Yes. I mean, you know, when you want to be with someone, you want to spend more time with them, but, you know, really just making sure. Like, I want to sharpen my ax first instead of just diving in. You know, I always say that I'm a redeemed workaholic. And I used to just dive into my work in the mornings because my mind would be going and I'm like, I just need to get all these things done.

Done.

But then, you know, I'd fit God in here and there. But now I spend. I mean, and C.J. and I have the luxury of working for ourselves, so I spend hours sometimes in the mornings. But it is so good for me. I mean, that's when I just, I get recharged, I get refreshed, and I can do then what I'm doing. Right. But it doesn't have to be that long. It can be one minute, it can be five minutes. But, cj, why don't you pray over all of us and that wherever we're at, that we would be able to go at the pace of God's grace and do it in connection with him having those times of retreat with him.

Yeah, Father, we. We do thank you for this opportunity to truly retreat with you, to take your invitation to come away with me.

To a solitary place, to a place where.

We can hear your voice, we can hear your insights, we can get in alignment with you. And we just ask, Lord, that you would guide each and every person.

In what the retreat would mean for them and that whatever you want to do in and through us during these two days, I pray that it would really be powerful. I pray people would get God ideas. Yeah, we know many of us could brainstorm and come up with a thousand good ideas. I pray that you would give God ideas. Yeah, we thank you for those, Lord, that there's going to be some people that come away after spending time with you on the other side of the lake, and they're going to be refreshed, recharged, and just excited for what's to come because you gave them new vision, he gave you insight. And so would you do that, Lord? Would, would this truly be a retreat? And we'll give you the glory and the honor for what you. You end up doing in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And CJ's mentioned a couple times, even in his prayer, the whole concept of alignment with God. And a few years ago, I was just wrestling and struggling with this and Lord, how do I balance everything? Have you ever felt that? Like, how do I balance my writing work with my family, with a ministry? And ah, you know, it's like the Lord just gently said to me, shelly, it's not about balancing it all, it's about being in alignment with me. And that was a one minute breakthrough moment for me hearing from the Lord, right? Like he just came in, in that one minute. But it's not about having perfect balance of everything and balancing your ah, it's like, are we in alignment with Him? Are we connecting with Him? Are we listening to Him? And so if you're not, I highly recommend having business meetings with God. We have training on that for you and it will make a huge difference. But thank you CJ for sharing this message on retreat. Would you like more? If you are enjoying this podcast but want more, I have something exciting to share with you. We have released what's called a private podcast. So a private podcast you will not find by searching an apple. You have to know specifically how to subscribe to it. It's more private and exclusive and it just can be more relaxed behind the scenes. And my new private podcast is called Hits Blitz and it's wisdom for writers that you're going to learn from my 18 plus years of experience in publishing and online marketing so that you can move forward in God's call to write. I am best known for injecting energy and enthusiasm into everything I do and inspiring those around me to take action. So I encourage you to listen in to this exclusive private podcast. It is free, 100% free. You don't have to pay for it and be prepared to be inspired by my next Hits bullets. So you can sign up@trainingauthors.com for forward slash Hits Blitz and if you have any other writing friends that you think could benefit from it, definitely share it with them. They can go to the Same link training authors.com forward/hits blitz to get access. Again, this is a private podcast so you cannot get access to it any other way. It's completely free. All you have to do is sign up and then you'll get all the information on how to add it to your podcast or player of choice. So I can't wait for you to join me over there. I share a lot of things behind the scenes and more content just in a real time basis. So it's more like chatting with a friend or following someone on stories on social media. Except you don't have to get caught up in any of the algorithms. You'll just have this in your podcast player and be able to listen in wherever you're at, whatever you're doing. Some of the listeners told me this week that they were listening while waiting in the Target parking lot, while brushing their teeth. You can fit this into the pockets of time that you have, so I hope you'll join me. Come over to trainingauthors.com hitsblitz.

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