A Weekend With Jesus

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! We are honored to receive this weekend mountain retreat, compliments of one of our couples, who blessed us with this trip as a thank you for counseling them. They thought they would give us some much needed rest and relaxation and time to hear from the Lord!

Day One
We arrive around 3:30pm, an hour and a half after our planned early arrival time. It’s so beautiful here, and so peaceful, full of serenity, Your serenity, Lord. There’s nothing like nature! We have no television, no telephones, no telecommunication whatsoever. No radio, no CD player, no VCR or DVD player. No couples calling, no friends or family calling or dropping by just to see how we are doing. No one is pulling on us for anything! We are at peace, … peace with You.

Our meals have been so graciously planned and prepared for us with instructions as to what’s on our menu for each meal and how to prepare them! This is wonderful! We have all of our needs supplied. We don’t have to leave this serene place at all if we choose not to. That’s the same thing You tell us, Lord. We don’t have to leave your peace if we would only choose not to!

Well we leave the cabin for a while, but not the peace of the Lord. We visit the lake at the State Park Information Center, where we accept more of Your peace, while we sit on the porch swing and take in Your breeze, Your breath of fresh air. While I write this, You are telling me that this is what we need in order for us to hear from You. Our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our souls all belong to You, and they have to be clear in order to receive Your beauty, to speak Your beauty that others may hear and receive Your beauty to become Your beauty. Wow, that was beautiful, Lord, if I might be so redundant. But what more can I say. What other word could describe Your majesty besides beautiful … like the song says, "You are so beautiful to me; can’t You see!"

You’ve taught me so much so far this weekend, Lord. Imagine that! All I had to do was listen. But how can we listen, when there is so much around us blocking our hearing. We must learn how to tune it all out when we want to hear from You. We can’t teach others how to hear from You, when we are too busy ourselves to listen for instruction on what to teach! Without instruction from the Holy Spirit, it is our flesh doing the teaching, not the Spirit within!

Back at the cabin we are finishing dinner, a scrumptious Cornish hen meal with grilled chicken and Asiago and Parmesan cheese-stuffed ravioli along with baby spinach sautéed in olive oil with walnuts and onions. (Umm, umm, good!) Thank You, Lord. And thank You for the bacon wrapped scallops and tomato and cucumber salad with sweet basil and olive oil for lunch. That was delicious too. Oh, I got sidetracked for a minute … we talked until midnight, something we don’t do enough of with all the interruptions we are constantly bombarded with.

And when we decide to finally go to bed … we make love … we make love … we make sweet love. It’s the same, but it’s different. It’s different, but the same. We’re different, but the same. We bring the peace, the serenity of our surroundings into the bed with us, and this peace is not only around us, but in us. We are happy to be here in and at peace with one another. No conflict around us; no conflict within us. We are just here with You, Lord, like in the Garden where we communed with You. We are communing with You while communing with each other, just like You intended in the beginning. We listen to the rain striking the tin roof of our cabin while our love … Your love in us … strikes each other’s hearts. Oh how I wish that all of our couples could feel what we feel at this moment … peace that surpasses all understanding! It’s amazing how much peace you receive, when you filter out all of the world’s troubles and influences and only let the gentle droplets of the Living Water strike at the tin roof of your heart. Wow, … what an orgasm!

Day Two
What a beautiful morning this is! I hear birds singing. I hear crickets chirping. I smell the cedar in the wood of this cabin. I am actually up and moving around, bright and early, ready to fix our breakfast. This weekend has really made me feel like a wife again. I haven’t had time to concentrate on the health issues that have been hindering me. I’ve only had time to focus on You, Jesus. As I ignore the back pain that tries to keep me bent over, I stand here before You, cooking breakfast like I used to when I had my full strength and health. I feel like I’ve been restored! Thank You, Lord, for restoration. I’m actually up making breakfast before my husband wakes up. He will wake up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee, scrambled eggs, waffles and country bacon, spiced apples and orange juice. What a difference a bit of peace makes.

Well, my honey really enjoyed the country cabin breakfast. We now sit out on the screened in porch and take in the breeze and the smell of fresh mountain air. We remain in Your peace, Lord. We are at peace. We both sit here reading Your Word and getting inspired by the fresh revelation we are receiving. Give us understanding, Oh Lord, so that we might run with our instruction from You. We are taking in all that You are giving. Let us hold it in our hearts for as long as we have breath. Peace is so beautiful.

Wow, it seems we just had breakfast, but it’s time for lunch already. We are trying to stay on our menu schedule. This is a light lunch, not hard to prepare, but delicious none the less. We have a delectable chicken salad to stuff into whole-wheat pita bread, which is as light as a feather and deliciously sweet on the tongue, along with celery sticks and ranch dressing for dipping. It’s oh so wonderful to have all of our meals planned out and prepared. It makes being a wife a lot easier and more fulfilling when you have health issues that stop you from fulfilling some of your wifely duties most of the time. I’m really enjoying being able to cook for myself and for my husband again! Thank You, Jesus, for this opportunity.

I think I’ll start to prepare dinner now, while my husband takes a nap. He’s really had an opportunity to get some rest from his daily routine of taking care of my every need. He’s done so well taking care of me that I lost my independence of taking care of myself. Well, honey, I’ve regained some of my independence, so you can take a breather now! Enjoy it while it lasts; it may not be for long. You know how crazy my body gets at times. Some days I’m up and going; some days I’m flat on my back.

Well, the lamb and wild rice dinner is awesome, and the conversation is fantastic! Enough said. A wonderful night awaits!

Day Three
This is our last morning in the mountains, but Lord, we will take this peace home with us! We had a wonderful time here with You. Thank You so, so much, Lord, for this awesome opportunity. I hate to let it go, but we must go back home now to do what You have for us in this new season.

"What did I learn from this experience," You ask? Well, Lord, the most important thing I learned was to take the time to listen to You. I was too busy concentrating on how much pain I was in, both physically and emotionally, to hear what You were saying to me. It is You who provides everything we need … peace of mind, physical and emotional healing, money to pay bills, clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads, broken marriages healed and restored … all we have to do is … reach for You!

We drive home through the captivating mountains, speechless from the breath-taking experience. We are each praying that what we received lasts forever.

© 2005 A S Bailey. All Rights Reserved.