Our sense of purpose is deeply intertwined with how God shapes our understanding through our actual lived lives. Purpose isn't a linear trajectory, but a dynamic relationship with God's ongoing work. This year likely revealed layers of your calling that you might not have recognized in the moment, and that is why we want to spend some time on the final days of the year reflecting on how we sensed God worked in us and through us.

How has your relationship with Christ evolved over these past twelve months? Picture yourself sitting quietly, opening your heart to God's gentle whispers, examining the intricate tapestry of your faith walk. This year has been a testament to God's incredible grace. Perhaps you've experienced mountaintop moments of profound connection, or maybe you've walked through valleys that tested your faith. Either way, Christ has been present – in the celebrations and the struggles, the victories and the challenges. He's been weaving His purpose through every single moment of your life.

Have you ever felt like your emotions are a spiritual rollercoaster? The truth is, God designed our emotions as a beautiful, intricate way of understanding ourselves and connecting with Him. This past year has been a journey of the heart – a landscape painted with vibrant hues of joy, deep shadows of grief, unexpected moments of peace, and raw, vulnerable experiences that have shaped your spiritual walk. Today, we want to sit with the emotions we’ve felt and experienced over the past twelve months:

Relationships are the heartbeat of our spiritual walk with God. They're not just casual connections, but sacred ground where God's love takes shape through our daily interactions. Think about the people who have walked beside you – family members who've offered comfort during storms, friends who've been your silent supporters, or colleagues who've challenged you to grow. Each relationship is a carefully crafted moment, orchestrated by God to shape your character and reveal His love.

Have you ever looked back on a year and wondered how you made it through? This past year has been like a roller coaster – full of unexpected twists, turns, and moments that took our breath away. But here's the beautiful truth: God has been right beside you, carefully weaving each experience into a beautiful tapestry of grace. Today, we want to begin our retreat journey by reflecting on the circumstances we faced in 2024, considering where we witnessed God’s faithfulness, and articulating the lessons we learned along the way.

The Christmas story is filled with people finding their voice through worship. Mary's song of praise revealed her deepest understanding of God's character. The shepherds, after their extraordinary encounter, couldn't help but glorify and praise God for all they had seen. The wise men expressed their adoration through costly gifts. Each found their unique voice in worship, and each contribution became an essential part of the nativity narrative. Like the Magi who traveled great distances with a single purpose—to worship—we too discover our authentic selves when we fix our gaze upon Jesus. It is in our coming King where we find our truest voice. 

When Simeon held the infant Jesus in his arms, his life became a living testimony of fulfilled desire. After years of waiting and watching, his deepest longing materialized in the form of a tiny baby. His patient anticipation, guided by the Holy Spirit's promise, culminated in a moment of profound witness. His life spoke volumes about the faithfulness of God even before he uttered his famous words of praise. During Advent, we're invited to consider how our lives bear witness to fulfilled desires. This isn't about material wishes or temporary satisfactions but about the deepest yearnings of our hearts finding their answer in Christ.

On that first Christmas night, heaven couldn't contain its joy. What began as one angel announcing good news to frightened shepherds suddenly erupted into a cosmic chorus that filled the night sky. This wasn't a carefully planned performance but an overwhelming explosion of praise that had to be expressed. The glory of God had taken on flesh, and creation itself couldn't keep silent. When we speak of praise filling every corner of our being, we're talking about this kind of all-encompassing worship. Praise starts in our hearts but refuses to stay contained there. Like sound waves that travel until they encounter resistance, authentic praise penetrates every aspect of our lives—our thoughts, actions, relationships, work, rest, dreams, and struggles. 

Imagine a natural spring pushing up from deep within the earth—pure, constant, and life-giving. Our worship should mirror this image: not manufactured or forced, but naturally flowing from our deepest places. The metaphor of a wellspring captures something profound about authentic devotion to God. Like groundwater that finds its way to the surface through unseen channels, true worship emerges from the hidden places of our hearts, shaped by our daily encounters with His grace.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve paused and prepared room in our hearts for Christ's arrival. Like clearing out a guest room for a beloved visitor, we're invited to examine what fills our inner spaces as we pause and prepare. What occupies our thoughts, concerns, and dreams? While we celebrate a historical event—Christ's birth—we also embrace a present reality: God desires intimate fellowship with us today.

Have you ever noticed how children's Christmas wish lists evolve as they age? What starts as a catalog full of circled toys gradually shifts to more practical items, and eventually, many discover that their deepest Christmas wishes can't be wrapped in paper and ribbon at all. This transformation of desires mirrors our spiritual journey during Advent.

The Advent season calls us to active waiting - not merely sitting idle but diligently seeking God's will for our lives. Picture the wise men out in the fields, their eyes fixed upon the star, carefully discerning its movement across the night sky. They didn't just observe; they followed. They didn't just wait; they pursued. Their journey teaches us that wisdom and discernment are active companions on our spiritual path.

The season we find ourselves in is marked by a profound longing - a yearning for the coming of Christ, the promised Messiah who will restore all things. This yearning starkly contrasts the flurry of activity and temporary distractions that often characterize this time of year. Even as we eagerly anticipate His arrival, our hearts can become cluttered with lesser hopes, fleeting pleasures that pale compared to the true hope in Jesus.

As we prepare our hearts for Christ's coming, we are invited to allow the Lord to shape our deepest longings and desires. Too often, we cling to our own agendas and notions of what we believe we need or want. But true fulfillment can only be found in aligning our hearts with God's perfect purposes. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Waiting can be one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines. We want answers, solutions, and resolutions quickly. The modern pace of life conditions us to expect immediate gratification, whether through the tap of a smartphone screen or the click of a mouse. We've become accustomed to having our needs and desires met with lightning speed, often forgetting that the rhythms of the Christian life frequently require a peaceful pause and a quiet trust in God's perfect timing.

As we journey through the Advent season, our hearts are filled with a mixture of emotions. There is joy in anticipating the celebration of Christ's birth, the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Savior. But there is also a sense of longing, a deep yearning for the full realization of God's kingdom on earth. The prophet Isaiah's words echo this longing, painting a vivid picture of the one to come: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

The incarnation of Christ is not just a historical event we commemorate each year. It's a reality that continues to reshape our understanding of life itself. When God became flesh and dwelt among us, He didn't just visit for a while and leave things as they were. He came to inaugurate a new kind of abundant life and invite us into it. But what does this life look like? And how do we prepare for it?

Amid our familiar world – a world often marked by conflict, injustice, and pain – there's another reality unfolding. It's the reality of God's kingdom, quietly but persistently breaking into our everyday existence. This Advent season calls us to remember a past event and awaken to a present reality: the kingdom of God is here, now, in our midst. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, His core message was simple yet revolutionary: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

We often search for God in the extraordinary - in miracles, mountain-top experiences, and dramatic answers to prayer. But what if He's calling us to recognize Him in the ordinary moments that fill our days? God's promise to Moses echoes through the ages: "My presence will go with you." It's a promise of constant companionship, of His presence not just in the spectacular but in the mundane. The God who parted the Red Sea is the same God who walks with us through rush hour traffic, sits with us during our morning coffee, and listens to our inner thoughts as we fold laundry.

During these hectic December days, it's easy to lose sight of the profound mystery we're preparing to celebrate. We rush from store to store, check off our to-do lists, and attend countless holiday gatherings. But amid all this activity, are we truly seeing the wonders of God's intention? The psalmist's prayer echoes our need: "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things." Like a child with their face pressed against a frosted window, we strain to see the beauty beyond. But sometimes, the fog of our daily routines clouds our vision.