Motivational Insights From Spiritual Retreat
How can we spiritually grow closer to God and our peers around us? How can we develop our relationships with our friends in positive, beneficial ways? Activities such as camping, attending church, and participating in spiritual retreats can accomplish these goals. Engaging in Atlanta Adventist Academy's spiritual retreat this past weekend helped me to develop my character on spiritual, mental, and social levels. Throughout the course of the weekend, I was able to strengthen relationships between former and new friends, experience the mental and social aspects of teamwork, and learn how God works through negative situations.
Spending quality time with my classmates encouraged me to spiritually and
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socially connect with them. Through team building exercises, I was able to develop better relationships with my former and new friends. For instance, being placed in a group with unfamiliar people forced me to socialize and associate with them. I was able to see more of their personalities and develop a more precise understanding of their characters by learning about simple things, such as their favorite hobbies or colors. On Friday, I spent three to four hours with my entire group, strategizing plans and forming solutions for team building activities. Throughout this process, I felt closer to each person by frequently communicating and sharing my own thoughts and opinions with them. During the afternoons, I spent much of my free time in the dorm with my close friends. We were able to talk about our day, relax, laugh, and just hangout with each other for a couple of hours. I really enjoyed talking to my close friends and forming better relationships with others who I didn't usually talk to as much. Worshipping with the whole student body also helped me to feel closer to everyone on a spiritual standard. Since we all believe in God, I felt like I could relate to them and the messages that were shared. The team building activities offered me some of the most positive motivation that I had ever received. Working with unfamiliar team members helped me to reach out of my comfort zone and develop better relationships with them. I was able to learn how to trust my teammates and depend on their ideas to help my team move forward. After each exercise, I developed a deeper faith and confidence in each of my team members. For example, during the electric fence activity, I trusted the guys in my group to lift and carry me over the fence without dropping me. Since I assumed they had enough strength and acknowledged their plan to lift me over, I trusted them and easily crossed over the fence. In order to reach these solutions, we had to accept each other's ideas and use them to create even better ones. By trusting in each other and brainstorming with everyone's input, my team was able to succeed in almost every station that we participated in. Throughout the team building activities, I socialized with a girl named Isabelle—a student in my junior class. We became close friends as we discussed our lives and hobbies, and found out that we are going to the same college. If it wasn't for team building, I wouldn't have met someone who could potentially be a life long friend. Even though spiritual retreat was mostly filled with positive memories, it had negative outcomes that allowed me to learn how to focus on the positive aspects of the experiences.
On Saturday night, a song was played that encouraged some of AAA's students to get up and dance. When Mr. Jones announced that the dancing was inappropriate for spiritual retreat, he also mentioned a fact that I wasn't aware of at the time. He said that he was thankful that people like Christian Lawson and Matthew Cordner were able to easily dance and express themselves. Since they were very ill or injured at one point in their lives, it is a miracle that they are still moving and dancing around today. Remembering their smiles and laughs while they danced reminded me that God can definitely heal us and take control of our lives. He can lead us out of times of trouble and use people to help make situations better. God always has a plan for us and uses various situations and people in unique ways to teach us lessons and messages. After thinking about this topic for several hours, some of my close friends decided to apologize on behalf of those who were dancing. They asked our bible teacher for forgiveness and sought to correct the issue. Observing my friends as they reflected on their sin and asked for forgiveness, reminded me of God's unfailing love and salvation. When Mr. Jones and Mr. Janetzko forgave those who were at fault, I thought about how lucky we are as humans to get second chances from our endless sins and faults. This negative experience opened up a new insight that I would have never thought about if it didn't
occur. Spiritual retreat strongly benefited my character through social, mental, and spiritual experiences. Throughout the weekend, I was able to become closer with my friends and classmates, socially and mentally benefit from team building activities, and see God work through a negative experience. I feel like my character has become more well rounded by learning to trust strangers in team building exercises and worshipping God with the rest of the student body and faculty. I have spiritually and mentally benefited from this spiritual retreat and have gained powerful insights that I will use to help me advance in life. For the success of my future, I desire to use these lessons to help me fully develop my human character and become a better person.
As I continued to chat with my pastor that day, I really sensed the hurt in his eyes – the anger that comes from an unsolvable injustice, the tiredness of a problem. “What’s wrong?” I finally asked, “Having a bad day?” Sensing that I was truly concerned, he let the truth be told. “I talked with a woman today whose baby died suddenly of unknown causes. As we worked through her grief, she talked about how numerous friends and family, even a religious leader had patted her on the back, shook their heads and said, ‘It was God’s will.’ I find few things worse to say to a grieving parent. Saying nothing at all would be of more help.” It was obvious from our conversation that he had an understanding greater than I about God’s will, and his insight created in me a curiosity and desire to learn more.
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
In studying Donald Whitney’s “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life”, Mr. Whitney reminds us that once we become followers of Christ that we aren’t just supposed to sit around waiting on God and His Holiness but rather we are to actively pursue Him.
In this paper two topic from the Psychology and Spirituality course will be discussed in regards to spirituality and their influence on my personal life. I will examine how I have grown and what I have learned from the week on Spring Lake ranch and how I wish to continue moving forward in my attempt to be spiritual and build a closer relationship to God.
This is important. We aren't lone wolves, we can't do this alone. You need mentors, you need friends, you need family. The body of Christ is a good family to have. Stay plugged into a good Church.
With this in mind, the following will focus on the spiritual formation process within the Christian community. The concept of Christian community stems from the Bible with the perspective of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is compared to the humane body, a whole comprised of numerous parts; each individual part is required and created by God to form a cohesive whole, no matter believer or non-believer or social status (1 Corinthians 12). Similarly, the spiritual community is also comprised of bountiful parts and can be customized to the individual as the formation. Ashbrook appraises the significance of individuals and community, “Our spiritual formation is designed by God to happen in the context of Christian community, the chu...
Patients are people that God put into our path that need us to hold up their hands
In today’s society, there are a large number of individuals who are on the pursuit for spiritual development that is consistent with their “belief that spirituality is vital for growth and essential for dealing with life’s problems” (Morrison, Clutter, Pritchett, & Demmitt, 2009). Even moreso it’s no surprise to learn about the movement among the vast number of clients seeking to address concerns of spirituality within their counseling sessions.
As I reflect on spiritual disciplines it is easy for me to look at them and weed out the ones that I do not think apply to me and the ones that I am drawn towards. But as I press into God and ask him what he sees fit and what I need more of, the picture begins to looks different than what I thought I saw before. Since I am so obviously human, I would rather see my life through a different more accurate lens than one that is tainted and imperfect like those of my human eyes. When I look at my life spiritually it is easy for me to see the spiritual disciplines that just come naturally to me such as worship and service. Since I know that those are areas of my faith that I thrive in, I tend to gravitate towards those to try and satisfy my spiritual life but I leave other parts to suffer. I want to gain better understanding of my faith and ultimately cultivate a deeper relationship with the Father.
I am a musician. Recently, I enjoyed that moment when you hear a song for the first time and are instantly captured. The song was playing at a restaurant where I was performing. I asked a friend in that moment about it, for it was from her playlist. She said it was a song about Catholic and Protestant religions, and she shared that she had previously thought it would be a great song to add to my repertoire. I thought the song was a strong statement of unconditional love, and the notion of divine Goddess energy, when I initially heard it. Inspired to perform it, I worked out the lyrics and chords and viewed the music video, and, unexpectedly, found myself profoundly amazed and deeply moved.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral
In today's world, there are many different ways to get involved in religion; various methods have attracted groups of all ages and races. One popular association is FCA or Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This particular group has helped me to find Christ in my own life. There are a lot of unconventional activities to help the younger generations get involved. Some of these activities included Death Week, which focused on death and pain, meetings about family and divorce, lectures to help people reach for their goals, and encouragement speakers. There is a great deal of fun incorporated into all the seriousness, though. We went on ski trips, did missionary work, and put on skits. All of these activities involved Christ in some way, and helped the younger generation to realize that being spiritual was not 'uncool.'; When I attended the FCA meetings, it was the one time that I actually felt free from all my problems. FCA helped me to find my spiritual self and gave me a sense of completion.
Spiritual formation is one subject that I like to discuss in that it really helps one reflect on their own spiritual journey and where they are in that journey. The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy any step forward towards God. He is not after anything tangible that we possess, rather, he is only after our faith in God and belief in Jesus. Knowing this is part of our spiritual journey as fighting against the enemy requires spiritual warfare in which the only one that can help is Jesus. A transformation in our character to be like Jesus is essential to our spiritual growth. This cannot be done without being intentional with our time, finances, and disciplines.
According to Hutchison (2015), “religion is symbolic patterns that consists of values, beliefs, behaviors and experiences” (p. 184). I personal conceptualize spirituality as a vital role in my life that helps me during a time of sickness, forgiveness, and needed guidance. Spirituality helps guide me throughout life during the difficult times I have encountered. Spirituality impacts my life in positive ways that influence and regulate my behavior and health. Health is very important to me; I believe the spirit can heal a person from their sickness. It seems that the spirit heals me every time I pray to be healed from sickness. The spirit gives me strength at a time of weakness. When I feel at my lowest point in life I call on the spirit to pick