The Retreat: How to Improve Your Love Life... with God - Softcover

Tardy, John Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1092731423 ISBN 13: 9781092731423

Publisher: Independently published, 2019

Synopsis

The Retreat: How to Improve Your Love Life... with God, is a true story that takes you on an incredible journey, following fourteen Christians as they turn the old idea of a retreat upside down in new compelling ways. These Christians, while hoping to experience an intimacy with God, literally take a different path while searching for what pleases Him. They find some answers while biking the woods of Virginia, and cement their discoveries by writing their own personal “Covenant” with God. This book speaks to both the novice and the more experienced spiritual leaders, who want to expand their influence on other seekers of Christ ( regardless of where they are in their faith journey ) and guide them into a deeper understanding of how to meet and commune with Christ in that most elemental of arenas: Nature. Normally, retreats have too many people in them to be successful. Change requires intimacy. I have found there are two main groups of people within the body of the church. The first group includes young Christians who have lost their way within the first 3-5 years following their conversion as the initial exuberance fades. Life becomes more difficult due to work and children. Lacking a necessary discipleship period of development, which is essential for every new believer, this group exhibits what I call the three “D”s: Disillusionment, Disenchantment and Despondence. The second group I have identified is the more mature Christian whose growth has been stunted due to their own apathy or because they have volunteered for everything that comes their way. In essence, their “busy-ness ” has become detrimental to deepening their relationship with their Lord. Both groups need to “reboot” themselves for Christ. The first needs to develop certain patterns which will enable them to grow in Christ, while the latter group needs to identify the obstacles that have been building up over the years and thereby correct their wrongs. This book takes on this challenge by utilizing a “Retreat” format. There are Marriage Retreats, Single Retreats, Self-Help Retreats and Retreats for how to have a Retreat. So how is this book different? By addressing the necessary relationship between the participants themselves and God, and how that can be accomplished by establishing a personal “covenant” with Him. Four years following our retreat the participants remain very close friends. They stay in constant contact with each other by sharing their burdens, sharing the gospel, and encouraging fellow believers. Believers, over time, develop a propensity to lose their first love while other believers were never taught how to love their Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Most Christians, regardless of their walk with God, have never made a written commitment to Christ. This true story shares the lives of followers of Christ seeking solutions that will unify, strengthen, encourage, and embolden believers. Once accomplished, these refocused, reenergized, and “rebooted” participants become a visible “letter of Christ”, written so all may see. This journey began with willing participants who wanted to love their Lord like never before. We needed change, and the cabin and bike trail provided this. We felt the Holy Spirit’s presence from the moment we arrived and prayed around the property. In brief, a Communion service got us off on the right foot as our amazing weekend took root. We had seven sessions of meetings, which included four “God Conversations” of 45 minutes each as we began to assimilate ourselves to the people of Nehemiah Chapters 8 and 9. We had shirts made with Enoch’s name on them, which we wore on our bike ride, as we did our best to emulate him and his walk with God. We searched deep into the scriptures to find ourselves, our faults, and finally for answers to questions which had previously vexed us. The success of our personal covenant with God, depends on TIME being our friend or foe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1092731423
• ISBN 13: 9781092731423
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 178
• Editor: Martin Paul Alan
• Illustrator: Waller Matt