Lacey and I arrived home this past Saturday from Kenya, and wow, was it an amazing trip! Many of you know that our ministry work started in Kenya. Out of that work, Be Free Revolution was birthed, and then many years later and God-ordained happenings in our lives and the lives of Allison and Kevin, The Retreat House was birthed. All out of a deep sense of God’s Presence and leading.
The theme for August at The Retreat House is “action and contemplation”.
This felt so very relevant for us as we boarded that flight to Nairobi. Filled with curiosity and emotion, we urged one another to trust God in every detail. And as God does, He provided more abundantly than we could have ever asked or imagined.
It was the culmination of fifteen years of going to Kenya, making connections, forging relationships, and learning hard lessons. It felt like a time of harvest. On a trip many years ago, Lacey was given the name Nafula, meaning “rain” and I was given the name Nekesa, meaning “harvest”. This trip brought these names to life.
The past year, God has been watering a very fertile and healthy soil. He has been working within our BFR Global staff in incredible ways and it has certainly shown. I cannot speak highly enough about our global staff and those leading the way on the Kenya side for BFR. Each person living in their unique in their gifting, humble, willing, and ready to work hard for God and for these kids. They are working together so well as a team with Bailey, our U.S. BFR Global Director. She has been working hard to create camaraderie and organization, making the hard work of our Kenya staff possible. Seeing the fruit of that and feeling the energy of it was incredibly encouraging.
Our trip focused around two camps: one for our college-aged kids, called Blaze and Ignite for our elementary and high school kids. At these camps, we jumped into God’s Word in 1 Kings 17-19, studying the life of Elijah. We saw how Elijah was bold for God yet humble and obedient. He trusted God both in action and in the wilderness. He experienced God’s power, as well as His rest and nourishment.
And THAT is what it means to live a life of action and contemplation-allowing God to move in and through you in action and your calling, yet also resting in Him and experiencing His presence in the wilderness and through the presence of the ravens and the angel providing food. Even when Elijah grew tired, he cried out to God and then rested in His strength and power.
Being on the mission field has been such a huge part of our lives through the years. When God led us into a more contemplative way back in 2017, it brought an element of rest and nourishment that we hadn’t truly experienced before. It was like God was sending an angel to remind us to rest and eat now, for you will need it for the journey ahead. And boy, has it been a journey.
The mission field is full of action. You are constantly moving from one place to another, and God’s presence is palpable in ways that you can often be missed in your everyday life- you witness miracles, see Him provide, and your faith is nourished by those experiences. Your hands and feet are in motion. In contemplation, we find ourselves still and quiet before the Lord, open to whatever He wants to stir within us. It is a posture of open-handedness.
As Christians, there are times in our lives that we lean heavily into the action and need to be reminded that being with God is necessary and sweet, refueling us like no other thing can. And then there are times that we can live deeply into contemplation and feel God nudging us to get out and move to action. Both are beautiful. Both are God-honoring. Both are necessary in the Christian life.
Thoughts for reflection:
What does your action and your contemplation look like?
How is God inviting you to live into this part of your journey?
Are your action and contemplation muscles in balance?
We at The Retreat House want to encourage you on your journey and offer space for you to be with God and discover what is emerging within you. Join us for a silent retreat or for a session of spiritual direction to pull on the strings of how God is moving in your life. You may be noticing that your “action muscle” is overworked and inching towards burnout, and God is gently calling you to rest and nourishment under the broom bush. Or you may sense that your brook is drying up, and God is propelling you into action. At the end of 1 Kings 19, God reminds Elijah that he is not alone- that He has sent people to carry the torch alongside him. We feel that deeply and want you to feel that as well. Wherever you find yourself, we are here for you.
Let this verse wash over you today. Reah the full chapter of Psalm 24.
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