“Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.”
“Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
- James 4:8 The Message/NIV
Our first retreat of the summer is always so special, and this week we got to have a remarkable group of high schoolers and recent graduates. They entered Hopetown ready to receive God’s word and eager to give encouragement and support to one another.
As many of you know, Melissa recently returned from a 200-mile walk on the Camino de Santiago. We heard some incredible stories and insights from her pilgrimage through Portugal and Spain. We started off the week learning about how sometimes Melissa was so tired and worn out after a day of walking, all she could pray was, “Yes.” Then we turned to James 4:8 and learned how we all can learn to say a quiet yes to God.
Then, Melissa told us the story of a time she got lost on the Camino. We can all get lost sometimes, but we learned this week that we need to know where we are to get to where we are going. Saying yes to God means choosing Him and being honest about where we are with Him. He honors our yes because He is faithful! Eugene Peterson wrote this prayer that we prayed over our week:
“God, give us the eyes to see the wideness of your world, shimmering with beauty and holiness.
Stimulate our imaginations, infusing us with courage and hope. Surround us with friendship.
Plant us as seeds of resurrection.
Amen.”
Saying yes, having faith, often goes hand in hand with imagination. It was a beautiful way to start off our week and would be an incredible prayer for your family to pray together!
Next, we talked about what saying a quiet yes really looks like. It can be different for every person but some of the ways we discussed saying yes were:
Believing He is real.
Trusting what He says is true.
Believing my identity is in God alone.
Trusting Him even when I don’t understand His ways.
Desiring to love others more than myself.
Trusting His will for my life instead of asserting my own.
Believing the cross covers my guilt and shame with grace and forgiveness.
And so many more beautiful ways we can say yes to God. What does your quiet yes look like today?
The next morning, we returned to James 4. We talked about how sometimes we think we have to have it all together or be in control before we say yes to God, or we feel overwhelmed or put more faith in our fears than in God. Often, things in our past can make it really hard to trust God or people.
In Judges 6, we saw how Gideon questioned God in the same way so many of us do: “If God is with us, why has all of this happened to us?” We were reminded that it doesn’t matter where we are in our faith, we are just called to go out in the strength God has already put within us.
Melissa showed us the many different types of shoes she considered wearing on the Camino. We learned that God calls us to put on our shoes, get ready for our pilgrimage, and trust in Him.
Paul reassures us in 2 Corinthians 1, “Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.”
To end the week, we got to feel how heavy the backpack was that Melissa carried with her on the Camino. We all carry around a backpack of burdens such as doubts, shame, fears, and pain. In Galatians 6, we are called to carry our own burdens and help carry each others’ burdens.
Each camper got a turn to help carry each other’s burdens and unload some of their own. They got to sit in Melissa’s armchair and ask, “Will you help lighten my load?” Then they could choose three people to specifically encourage them and help shoulder their burdens. It’s so life-giving to hear what people have seen in them that week.
Lastly, Melissa taught us how important it is to take our shoes off. He tells Moses and Joshua to take their shoes off when they are standing on holy ground. After a long day of walking, when we are at the end of our own strength, we can rest in Him, honor Him, and taste and see his holiness.
“Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”- James 4:10
