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81: YES Moments - The Importance of Retreating (Part 3)
141 Plays1 year ago
YES moments have been introduced to Season 5 of the podcast and Jill Devine described what YES moments are in Episode 77.
She realized she pigeon holed herself by keeping the YES moments to sermon messages only. YES moments occur all around us in different ways. The most recent YES moments Jill had happened while she was on a women’s retreat. In Part 3 of the conversation, Jill talked about what coming home from retreat looked and felt like and how she’s feeling at the present moment.
Episode links Jill mentioned in the episode include:
*Episode 79: YES Moments - The Importance of Retreating (Part 1)
*Episode 57: Mental Health Struggles – Anxiety, Burnout, and Panic with Christy Boulware
*Invitation to Retreat by Ruth Haley Barton
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Normal Goes A Long Way is brought to you by Messiah St. Charles: https://messiahstcharles.org/
Two Kids and A Career: https://www.jilldevine.com/podcast
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Real Conversations' Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The normal goes a long way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Retreat Reflections and Newfound Confidence
00:00:39
Speaker
Welcome back to normal goes a long way I'm your host still divine and this is part three of say yes an invitation to retreat in this episode I'm gonna talk to you about what it was like returning from retreat and where I am now from that experience and I Would encourage you if you haven't listened to episode 79 and episode 80 I would listen to those in order and then come back to this one so you can kind of see how it all plays out and
00:01:09
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So when I left the retreat with new friends, new confidence, I was driving home and just reflecting on everything and just full of gratitude. I wanted to tell everyone about my experience. I wanted to just call every single person that could listen and just
00:01:38
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tell them everything. And I didn't know if I should do that or not. I thought, should I keep it private? How much should I share? What
Music as a Divine Sign
00:01:47
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should I do?
00:01:48
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Um, so then on as I'm driving home, I'm getting closer and closer to home. Some of those songs that I did not know going into the retreat came on the radio. There were some other songs that had different meanings to me that came on the radio, uh, as I was driving home and I just was smiling. I was like, Oh, thank you God. Thank you so much. So,
00:02:19
Speaker
I was a little worried that I would come home and I would not get the reception that I wanted from my husband and my kids because I was on a high. I was
Homecoming Joy after Retreat
00:02:31
Speaker
just so happy and grateful. And I just wanted to hug them and kiss them and just love all over them. And I was worried that I would come in and be like any other day. And thankfully that didn't happen.
00:02:48
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Thankfully I was met with so much love and so much I'm closing my eyes right now and I'm just reliving that moment like the the hugs, you know how much I love my hugs the hugs and just There's nothing better than having your kids miss you and just want you and I remember
00:03:18
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looking at my husband and like giving him a kiss and the biggest embrace and just thanking him and just being grateful. I think he was probably like, Oh, we need to send her on more retreats. She is awfully amazing right now. I just, I cried talking to him about my experiences. I,
00:03:46
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told him about this love language that God is speaking to me through, which is music. It was just amazing.
Sharing Retreat Joy with Laura Fleetwood
00:03:57
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And so then I go to work the next day.
00:04:00
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And I'm able to talk to Laura Fleetwood about it all. And she is just smiling. Because she's done this. She knows. And so she was one of the women that I told you that just helped me when I was making the decision to go. I mean, she was like, you need to go. I just kept spilling the beans. Like, oh, and this happened. And this happened. Oh, my gosh. And then this happened. And then this happened. And oh, this is so amazing. And this. And she just listened to me and smiled.
00:04:30
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And I was just so full of joy that day, that Monday, just so full of joy. And then on Tuesday, there were a couple of negative
00:04:42
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I
Facing Post-Retreat Challenges
00:04:43
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mean, not anything big. It was just like negativity I could feel and I was like, nope, I knew this would happen. I am coming back from an amazing retreat and I'm on a high and I am not going to let the enemy bring me down. Like I just worked really, really hard on myself and I worked really hard
00:05:02
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in growing my relationship with Jesus, like I am not going to go back to some of the thoughts I had before going into retreat, just not going to let it happen. And so it did work for a while. It did. And then life, as you know. I will say, referring back to that book that I talked about in episode one,
00:05:32
Speaker
invitation to retreat and I'll have it in the show notes again. She talked about that. So there was a two or three chapters, two chapters I had not finished reading before going to retreat. And those two chapters were about leaving retreat and entering back into the real world and what you do. And like everything that I was experiencing, she talked about and was so helpful to know that I
00:05:59
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wasn't alone in my thoughts and then thinking back, okay, this is exactly what the pastor wives told us in their last message on that Sunday, spiritual warfare. This is what it is. This is the attack. This is, hey, you're going to go back to your normal life and you're not going to, you know, do anything from the retreat or remember anything. And so I had to just kind of wrestle with that. I also knew to be on that high all the time is not
00:06:29
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sustainable, obtainable, I don't know. I mean, come on, life. Would I love to be on that high all the time? Absolutely. I'm like, okay, what retreat can I go on tomorrow so I can make that happen? So now it's about practicing. It's about taking
Applying Retreat Lessons to Daily Life
00:06:46
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what I learned on retreat, going back to it. When I have moments with the girls, when they're not cooperating, when they are being kids and I'm
00:06:59
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quick to, I don't know, I just got to take a breath and just remember. And so that's kind of what I'm working on now. I actually
00:07:11
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would love more help on this. I would love to dive in. Christy and I are going to have a meeting not too far away. And I'm going to talk to her about it. I know that part of it is going to the scripture that the pastors wives tell all reference in their last message to us about preparing for battle, preparing for this. And so it's a mindset, it's a behavior change and
00:07:41
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I also am here to say to you that it's okay. Like it's normal. It's completely normal. I don't think most people would keep that high no matter what. Like it just, how can you? But I go back to the word reset a lot. On Sunday mornings when I'm worshiping, I use the word reset. Like, okay, reset, this is,
00:08:08
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This is how you're going to choose to spend the day. This is how you're going to choose to enter into their week. Reset, reset, reset, reset. So I'm taking the wisdom that I learned from the amazing leaders from Fearless Unite, from Pastor's Wives Tell All, from the retreat Wisdom for the Weary.
00:08:30
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I journaled so much, I took so many notes, and now it's a reference for me. So I have it, I mean, I have it right here. I've been reading from it the last episode and now here. I mean, just little notes of, even with the Bible, what translation some women like. Like, one woman said that she loved
00:08:56
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the passion version, which really applies to the New Testament. And then the message and NLT translations are the favorites among my small group that I was a part of. Little notes I took. One woman suggested that I read the book of John. Just start with the book of John in the Bible. She's like, stop doing your reading plan that you're doing right now. Just read the book of John. And so these little notes that I have taken just
00:09:24
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It's a reminder. It is a reminder to think about all the things that are happening in my life, the good, the bad, the ugly, and just go back to Jesus. I mean, I know that it seems so simple. I mean, even
Encouragement for Personal Growth and Retreats
00:09:42
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me saying that, like, if I were to hear somebody say that to me, it's not that simple, but it really is. I am a work in progress. I,
00:09:55
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I'm excited about the work that I'm doing. I'm excited about what's to come. I'm excited about being able to help you. I'm excited to be able to continue to share. And that's my plan. If you haven't
00:10:16
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heard from the Lord in the way that you are expecting because, of course, we always have it. We want it our way, right? Like, I want that hug. And it just doesn't work that way. I don't believe. I feel like from the stories I've heard throughout the different episodes that we've recorded on this podcast to people I've talked to in person,
00:10:42
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It's God's timing, not ours. But we also have to keep our eyes open and be aware. And so if you maybe are in a situation like I have been, where I've been looking for the certain thing, maybe start writing down different things that have been happening or start noticing the surroundings. I mean, it was right in my face with the music.
00:11:13
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And like I said, most people are like, da Jill, hello. Um, I just needed more and that's okay too.
00:11:22
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So I encourage you to continue to be in the Word. Continue to ask your questions. Go outside your comfort zone. Go to a retreat. Search for a retreat. I don't know. I mean, just tap into the different resources that are available to you. Tap into me. Feel free to email me, hello, at JillDivine.com.
00:11:46
Speaker
Feel free to share your retreat story with me. I know not everyone wanted to hear what I had to say. So when someone was willing to listen, I'm like, yes, let me tell you all about me. Um, I'll listen to your retreat story. Just keep growing and keep exploring. I believe in you and thank you for your support and thank you for listening to normal goes a long way.