Preparing to remain silent

Tomorrow is the start of a 48 hour silent retreat. No talking, no computers, no phones, and no music. Just you, God, your Bible, and your journal. That's it. I'm looking forward to the experience. Some think it will be difficult and yet others think it will be a great growing point in their relationship with our Lord. I believe this will stretch us. I believe this will bring us closer to God whether we plan on it or not. Just think about it. Complete silence for that long with nothing to do besides sleep, read, eat, and sleep some more!:) We are just past half way through training and I think this will do us some good when it comes to getting some silence and away from our normal routines of this training.
One thing I am planning on trying during this retreat is a Bible study called Manuscript Bible Study. It’s where you take a passage of scripture and you read it through twice and then take 15 to 20 minutes to circle words, highlight words and phrases, and just pick out some important sentences and things that mean a lot to you and just meditate on it. Then when you don’t think you can find anything else, you read it again and see what else God can show you. We did it as a group last week and it was amazing. It makes you look at and study things you really never realized and noticed before in a story you have read over and over. We did it on John 13:1-15: the washing of the disciples’ feet. I never realized that you can circle, underline, or highlight so many words that stick out to you or your team members. It teaches you to break down and study every word.
Things are going great here. The Lord has been amazing and I look forward to seeing what he will do as we prepare ourselves to head out to our fields. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that it will be spectacular. We serve an amazing God!!