The Gift of Saying Yes: Receiving God's Invitation Before It Passes By
Image from our Wild Sanctuary Overnight Retreat last year.
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" — Isaiah 43:19
The Invitations We Keep Postponing
We’ve recently reflected on Jesus' invitation to come away and rest, imagined the gentle rhythm of retreat, and explored what it means to come just as we are. Perhaps as you've been reading, something within you has stirred—maybe you've found yourself imagining what it would be like to spend a weekend at the top of a mountain outlook, surrounded by beauty, with space to breathe deeply and simply be.
And yet, even when our hearts recognize what they long for, saying yes can feel surprisingly difficult. There is always another responsibility to tend, another email to answer, another commitment that feels more pressing. We tell ourselves that next season will be less busy, that there will be another opportunity, that we'll make time for rest after everything else has been taken care of. But if you've ever waited for life to become less full before making space for your own soul, you probably know what happens…
The invitation quietly slips into another season that ends up never arriving.
A Gentle Act of Trust
Choosing to retreat is not about escaping your life or stepping away from the people you love because they’re too much. Going on retreat is an act of trusting that God can care for what you've left behind while our Loving Creator gently cares for you.
Throughout Scripture, we see people responding to God's invitations without knowing exactly what awaited them. Abraham left home. The disciples stepped out of their fishing boats. Mary offered her wholehearted "yes" to a calling she could not yet fully understand. Their stories remind us that faith often begins with a willingness to respond before every detail is certain.
While saying yes to a retreat is, of course, very different from these sacred callings, it can still become a meaningful act of trust. It is choosing to believe that making space for your relationship with God is not time taken away from your life—it is time that enriches it.
The Fruit of a Sacred Pause
One of the beautiful things about retreating is that its gifts rarely remain at the retreat center…
You may return home with a renewed appreciation for silence, a deeper awareness of God's presence, or a simple practice that helps you stay grounded in the midst of everyday life. You may discover that you listen more patiently, notice beauty more readily, or carry a little more peace into your work, your relationships, and your ordinary routines.
Sometimes the most lasting transformation comes not through dramatic moments or those ‘mountain top moments’, but through quiet, unsuspecting ones—a conversation around the table at lunch time, a walk down a trail where an encounter with a butterfly speaks to your soul in a new way, a prayer whispered in stillness that felt like it bubbled up from your depths, a deep breath taken with intention. These moments have a way of staying with us, gently shaping how we live long after the weekend has ended.
We'd Love to Welcome You
If you've been considering joining us for the Wild Sanctuary Overnight Retreat, perhaps this is the gentle encouragement you've been waiting for. There is no pressure. No expectation that you have everything figured out. Only an invitation to receive a few days of rest, prayer, movement, community, and quiet in the company of women who are seeking God's presence just as you are.
Registration for this year's retreat closes on September 6, and we'd be honored to share this sacred weekend with you. If you'd like to learn more, explore the full itinerary, or reserve your place, we invite you to visit our retreat page!
Whether you're joining us this October 9th-11th, or simply finding a few moments of stillness in your own week, our prayer is that you would continue to notice God's gentle invitations all around you—and that, when the time is right, you would have the courage to say yes to whatever God is lovingly inviting you into.
May you find the grace to rest, the freedom to listen, and the joy of discovering that God has been faithfully walking with you all along.