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I just got back from a christian inner healing retreat..Here's how it went
58 Plays1 year ago
If you know me, you know I love all things healing and personal development which is why i just got back from another all women's christian inner healing retreat!
Click play to hear my personal experience while I invite you to think about if you would attend one of these incredible retreats.
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Transcript
Introduction to Healing Retreats
00:00:00
Speaker
The healing retreat that I went on was absolutely incredible. I try to go to multiple retreats a year and it's honestly just too good to not share the experience. The experience was just so good.
00:00:24
Speaker
They're inner healing retreats. That's the best way to just say it. But I wanted to read the definition of what a retreat is. So the definition of retreat is an act of moving back or withdrawing. And so when I talk about my experience on this incredible journey that I took to Austin, Texas, that's really what I did.
00:00:54
Speaker
is I retreated. I have this beautiful family, a husband, two boys. We have an incredibly blessed business, very involved with our church, a huge friend group. Like we are always on the go. And if you're a busy mom, you understand the need for retreating.
Importance of Personal Rejuvenation
00:01:24
Speaker
Like it's a need. It's not a want. Like we need to retreat. And so it wasn't the best time for me to go. It wasn't like, honestly, it was, it was a bad time for me to go, but I did not care. I was like, no, this retreat has to happen. I need to be there. I work very hard in my life and I deserve to take four days away to pour into me.
00:01:52
Speaker
to allow God and other women to pour into me. This retreat that I went on was to Austin, Texas. I got to get on a plane, get out of my environment, and step into a city that I had not been in. It was a beautiful city. When we got there,
00:02:13
Speaker
One thing that I love about the intentionality, I love the intentionality of the retreats that my coach, my personal coach, my inner healing coach who has walked me through so much is that there is so much intentionality behind these retreats when we get there.
Retreat Intentionality and Atmosphere
00:02:33
Speaker
The house is prayed over. I mean, they take anointing oil and they anoint every room. They pray over every room, over the kitchen, over the bedrooms, over every single bedroom. Okay. You know, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we're going to declare that this bedroom is going to bring about sweet rest to everybody who is in it, like high level intentionality in these retreats.
00:03:00
Speaker
Even down to the food, the food that we had this go round, everything was paleo. Non-inflammatory food. Yes, we had like, you know, like we had some of our sugary treats, but everything was gluten-free. Everything was paleo. Like it was just, it was designed that way. There was no alcohol. Like it was strategically designed to deliver a certain outcome. And I love intentionality.
00:03:29
Speaker
So we get to the retreat and she has all of our gift bags laid out with our name on it. You just feel so loved. Like we felt so loved the minute that we got there and each retreat that I've been to has its own purpose. So I've been to one retreat where we focused on inner child work. This retreat, we really focused on, um,
00:03:57
Speaker
prophetic activation, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, like learning how to step into the gift of prophecy. We focused on our teenage selves. When we got there, she had pictures lined up. Everybody had to submit pictures of their teenage self. When we got there, there were pictures of our teenage selves lined up.
00:04:25
Speaker
It's just like you walk in and you're like, wow, there I am. Like it's so personal.
Creating a Safe and Sacred Space
00:04:30
Speaker
And so, yeah, we get there and we unwind, we hug, we, you know, some of us have retreated together multiple times. So like a lot of us knew each other, but then there were some people there who we didn't know, but it literally doesn't matter. Because when you step into that sacred environment, you like, your inhibitions just come off and you're like,
00:04:55
Speaker
I am so safe here. I get to just completely unwind. And when I was praying over this retreat, the word that I got was unwind. I just felt God say,
00:05:09
Speaker
There's gonna be an unwinding in the physical. There's gonna be an unwinding of emotions. There's gonna be an unwinding in the spiritual realm. And that is exactly what it was. A time where you get to rest and sleep in and food is cooked for you. And you don't have to worry about taking care of anybody. If you wanna sleep in, you can. If you wanna skip the first session, you can.
00:05:37
Speaker
total freedom to just be who you want to be and participate to the level of your comfort. So one of the activities that we do during retreat is guided meditation. And I love this because I was telling a friend this morning, like meditation is a skill because we live in such a fast pace, like boom, boom society that most people don't know how to be still. They've never been taught how to be still.
00:06:06
Speaker
They've never taught how to quiet their mind long enough to allow true rest to enter their body, their mind, their spirit. And so in this environment, you are forced, a gentle force, right? Like you're not really forced, but you're forced to just lay down and submit to rest. And it is amazing what we can hear when we silence
00:06:35
Speaker
the noise in our lives. And so meditation at these retreats is one of the most powerful aspects of retreat for me
00:06:48
Speaker
because it's a moment where you're in a room with a lot of beautiful souls, and you guys are just quieting your mind and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak, to work, to give you visions, to give you dreams, and here's the amazing thing. This is always accessible to us, but because we don't sit still, we miss it.
00:07:15
Speaker
But the truth is, is we don't really have to retreat to get this stuff. We can have that quiet place, that upper room, if you will, where we get to access this level of God. But there's just something about being away from your house in the stillness of a still environment that is so incredibly powerful. And so the guided meditation is one of my favorite. Now, if you've never heard of guided meditation, essentially it's where you are
00:07:41
Speaker
Um, you know, in a resting state, maybe it's laying down, maybe you're laying down flat, maybe your feet are propped up, like whatever it may look like for you. And somebody is using their voice. We're using the word of God. We're walking you into a meditative state. And so it's incredible. It's almost like a trance, but it's a godly one. It's not a new age.
00:08:06
Speaker
meditation, manifestation, none of that like this is this is holy spirit like you're just quieting yourself and allowing the holy spirit to move.
Healing through Art Therapy and Sisterhood
00:08:17
Speaker
So another thing that we got into here is there there's always like some form of art therapy and I love that because so often when we're moms
00:08:29
Speaker
and or wives without children. We get so busy like with work and with children that we lose touch with our inner child and our inner child is inside and she wants to come out and play. She wants to do those things. And so it's just a place in time where we can sit down and say, you know what? I haven't played with Plato like
00:08:52
Speaker
in a long time. I'm going to sit down and make a creation with Plato when you don't have like some two year old coming to mess it up or like one of my hobbies is painting. So there's always like art therapy and wow, let me sit here and like paint and just, just give my creativity and out a place where I can just express myself
00:09:14
Speaker
but I don't have to use words. For me, it's so healing. I love to just sit, have a nice little snack, get my club soda, and just paint. I can sit there for hours. I love the retreats because they're so dynamic in nature and there's always just different activities going on.
00:09:36
Speaker
We had art therapy and yeah, it was just really incredible. And so, you know, another one of my, just probably my most favorite part of retreat is when we go into a time of ministry, a time
00:09:52
Speaker
of prayer. This is just a part in the Christian community that a lot of people miss. It's just something that the Christian church, so many of them have omitted. I love that we do deliverance at retreat.
00:10:13
Speaker
because people come in one way, but then they get prayer, they get deliverance, they get set free from the bondage of addiction or grief or depression, anxiety,
00:10:24
Speaker
uh, infirmity, generational curses, like all of these things that we get the opportunity to pray over in a consecrated home. So like the atmosphere is just literally welcoming the spirit of God in. And then your w the whole weekend is all about like tenderizing you for this big moment of ministry. So the Lord has been able to speak to you. You're listening.
00:10:52
Speaker
you know, at some points we're crying, some points we're laughing, some points we're irritated, like the full range of emotions. And so we got to do ministry. And I always love when I get to see my friends get set free. I love, you know, it's like a place where you can cry and you can have that full release and nobody's making fun of you and nobody's, you know, uh, talking about you or gossiping. Like it's none of that. It's just,
00:11:21
Speaker
a beautiful environment of sisterhood. And I just think sisterhood is so powerful because before I stepped into this environment in San Diego, I have an incredible community here.
00:11:34
Speaker
I never really knew what sisterhood looked like. I have had really good friends, but most of my experience with girlfriends has been like their gossipy or, you know, like, can I trust you around my husband? Or it's just not been a healthy experience for me. And so this is not that. This is an experience where it's truly a sisterhood.
00:12:01
Speaker
where you get to tell your deepest darkest secrets and these women are holding this space for you to be messy, to cry, to get mad, to scream. I mean, I've been to summer treats where we're just like screaming at the top of our lungs doing anger release and like, it's absolutely incredible. And yeah, it's a little bit awkward sometimes, but
00:12:27
Speaker
it's just amazing that you're all, because you're all doing it. So it's like, yeah, it might be awkward, but everybody's having to do it. So you're just doing it. And, um, so the sisterhood, the fact that it's all women is absolutely my favorite part about it because you know, it's, it's just a moment in time where you get to just be a woman. You don't want to wear, if you don't want to wear a bra, you don't have to. Like we literally all hung out in sweat pants all weekend, like,
00:12:57
Speaker
All weekend we had like sweatpants, tank top, like it was so chill and there was nobody to impress. Like we didn't do makeup. Like it was just so natural and authentic and you feel like you're just frozen in time. Like it's just so amazing. And so, um, it's just an incredible place.
00:13:24
Speaker
where you get to just pull back the layers of who you are. And it's just deeper than an experience that you can get at church, I believe. I feel like while I love going to church, and yes, I can be all those things at church, it's a time where you just go deeper inside of yourself. And we all need to go deeper inside of ourselves.
Healing Teenage Selves and Spiritual Growth
00:13:54
Speaker
And so, like I said, with this retreat, we did some work around our teenage selves. And so it was so fun. We all had our pictures and we had to introduce our teenage selves. Like we got to say who she was, what she liked to do. Some of us said, oh my gosh, that was a hoe. Like I was a little hoe when I was a teenager. Some of us were like,
00:14:23
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I was so innocent like I didn't do. And there's no judgment. That's the best part is there's no judgment. You get to be a hoe if you want to be a hoe. If your teenage self was a hoe, like nobody's sitting here judging you. In fact, we're all laughing and giggling and like, ha ha, you're so funny. Or, you know, we introduced our teenage self and like some of us were like, we were fun teenagers or maybe we played sports or we got straight A's or we flunked out. Like there were so many different experiences going on.
00:14:53
Speaker
And so we introduced our teenage selves and then we had to say what we needed as a teenager. And it was very powerful. And it was very emotional because most of our answers were all the same. We got to say, wow, like when I was a teenager,
00:15:19
Speaker
I really just wanted attention. Like I wanted somebody to see me or wow. Like I really just wanted friends when I was a teenager. I wasn't popular. You know, that was when I heard and I really just wanted friendship or wow. I really just wanted to be comforted when I was a teenager. Like I really didn't have anybody to just squeeze me and hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
00:15:46
Speaker
And so it's a moment where you get to revisit this portion of your past and give her what she did not get as a child. And it's so powerful because when we don't do that, that version of us can get stuck inside of us and it manifests as different things as an adult.
00:16:15
Speaker
So if you never got love as a teenager, you may be an adult who still feels unloved. And so maybe you seek attention. Maybe you dress a certain way. You dress provocative because you need to show off your body because you want the attention of the opposite sex or, or just any sex. Or, you know, maybe you, uh, you know, pitch fits like a child because
00:16:42
Speaker
Maybe you pitch fits when you were younger and you never emotionally grew up. And it's just like there's so much work that goes into inner child healing and really pausing and saying, you know what? This is who I was when I was a teenager or when I was a child. And that part of me, that version of me did not get addressed. And that hurt is still here.
00:17:13
Speaker
And God, I'm going to allow you to come in and heal that version of me. Cause we're not self healers. Like God is the healer. We're just opening ourselves up and allowing him to come in and pour out. And so we get to, we got to all say what we needed as a teenager. And then we got to laugh about it or we got to cry about it. And then we got to pray over it. We got to pray for healing.
00:17:39
Speaker
We got to pray over our hearts that maybe felt broken when we were that age. And one thing that's really interesting when we do this kind of work, because I've been to multiple retreats, is there are some people who when they look at like, let's say a five or six year old picture of them, it may be incredibly difficult to look at.
00:18:08
Speaker
Versus like let's say a 15 or 16 year old picture of you. It may be totally easy to look at so for me personally the last retreat that I went on we did some like Some like younger child healing. So like, you know three four five six seven, whatever that age and I She she had a stare at our pictures for like
00:18:33
Speaker
one to two minutes while this very emotional song played. And I was just like pouring tears, like snotty nose, like highly emotional. But when we did the teenage release, this past retreat, like I was cool. Like it literally did not bother me. And so it's so fascinating to see, um, which version of you really brings out like an emotional
00:19:03
Speaker
reaction and sometimes you don't know until you take that picture of you and you look at it and you stare at it and you give those emotions a place to manifest and you know it's like this is work that we don't typically do on our own and so when we have a space to do this kind of work we give ourselves a chance to heal from
00:19:31
Speaker
things that we never addressed. And so it was just an incredibly healing experience. And I loved like this type of work is like absolutely sets me on fire. So I love doing this type of work at retreats. And you know, most of us, all of us in fact are broken and we need this stuff. And so that's why I wanted to share my experience
00:20:01
Speaker
Because if you, you know, some of you guys follow along on my, my social media, if you've seen me at these retreats, Oh my gosh, like if you have the opportunity, it will change your life. Like I, and I'm not saying that God will change your life at these retreats and you will be connected with the women in a way that you can, like literally you can't undo it. When, when, when you see women at their,
00:20:31
Speaker
most vulnerable state like you guys just connect like it's like a soul tie like but it's a deep soul tie a beautiful soul tie and so if you ever have the opportunity to go to a retreat please go like I mean save the money do what you got to do and get there and if you're not following my social media I'm at Josie Lynn on Instagram and I am
00:21:00
Speaker
I'm going to run a retreat next fall in Tennessee so
Activities for Refreshment and Connection
00:21:05
Speaker
you guys can totally tap in and follow along with that journey or connect with me on Instagram and I can plug you into retreats that you know that go on and it's just an experience you don't have to go to multiple multiple but you have to go to one and just experience the intimacy that goes on and so
00:21:27
Speaker
Another aspect of retreat that I love is we get to go outside. We go on nature walks. We breathe fresh mountain air. This past retreat, we were in Austin, Texas, and so we got to go on this river tour, and we just all took a bunch of snacks. We got on the boat. We got to see Matthew McConaughey's house, the owner of Bumble, the creator of Bumble. We got to see her house.
00:21:54
Speaker
my gosh, it was just a beautiful experience, but it was nice because we started to get kind of cabin fever from where we had just been in the house for days. And so we got to like get out and just breathe fresh mountain air and, and have like, just like a, you know, like a fun girl experience outside. And so the retreats are very dynamic. Sometimes it's a hike or we'll do, you know, a nice Pilates workout, nothing intense, just something to get the blood flowing and you know, get your body moving. And so,
00:22:24
Speaker
It's absolutely, it was incredible. Like I love this retreat and I mean, I will absolutely be at the next one because I am just a sucker for healing and allow, and being in spaces where God is present, like put me there. And it really just felt like we created an environment that felt like heaven on earth.
00:22:49
Speaker
I mean, it was just like, wow, this is heaven. Like this, this is heaven. We were just singing and worshiping and praying and loving. And it was just, it was just joy. Like it was just a moment of joy. And then imagine like, if you have that dose, when you go back to your home, to your life, like you get to bring that with you. Like you get to bring that peace and joy with you and you get to spread it out to those that you love. And so,
00:23:18
Speaker
That's the effect of when you go on your healing journey. I think about if you take a pebble and you drop it in a pond and then it has that ripple effect, that is what the healing journey looks like. When you start your healing journey, you will have a ripple effect. It has an outward effect on people in your life, your partner, your children, your parents.
00:23:47
Speaker
Healing is undeniable when it's true healing.
Breaking Free from Emotional Burdens
00:23:51
Speaker
There are people in my life who they look at me and they're like, I don't recognize you. This is not the Josie that I knew five years ago. And it's true because I am a different version of me now. That version of me will always exist in time.
00:24:09
Speaker
I'm just different now. I don't react the same. I'm just not the same. I don't think the same. I don't move the same. And it's because in this healing journey, when we go through trauma, go through heartache, walk through addiction, walk through death, walk through parenting, walk through hard times, all of these trials of life, which are normal, we tend to put on lenses.
00:24:38
Speaker
So if you have trauma, boom, there's, I want you to think about right now. Like every time I say a word, I want you to pretend like you're putting, you're putting like, you know, those glasses that have like, they're like, uh, like it's a, it's like a regular pair of glasses and then you can like put down the sunglass part and then, okay, so think about that. If you're somebody who has walked through trauma, boom, there's one lens.
00:25:03
Speaker
And then let's say, which we've all walked through trauma, but then let's say maybe your parents abandoned you. Boom, there's another lens. And then let's say like, oh my gosh, maybe you had a miscarriage. Boom, there's another lens. And eventually the lens is so thick with trauma and hurt and betrayal that that is the lens that we view life through. And it's not a real lens.
00:25:30
Speaker
It's a real lens, but it's not how we were created to view life. And so, you know, one thing that really shifted for me in my walk with God was I had just always understood that when I said the salvation prayer, like, yes, I am saved.
00:25:52
Speaker
and I'm going to heaven, but that's where most Christians stop. They say, okay, I'm saved and I'm going to heaven and so I'm just gonna live out my life, but I know at the end like I'm going to heaven and I'm saved, but here's the thing. We were not just called to get saved and go to heaven. We were called to walk out this life in freedom.
00:26:20
Speaker
And there are so many people who are walking out this life in bondage. So yes, they're saved, but they're riddled with anxiety. Yes, they're saved, but they're riddled with depression. Yes, they're saved, but they live a life of addiction. So their lives here are bondage. It's bondage. You're not free. You're a slave to whatever it is that you're chained to.
00:26:49
Speaker
Maybe it's addiction, maybe it's rage and anger, or pornography, or infidelity, or maybe you're not married and you make an idol out of being married and you can't be happy in your single life because you just think that the answer to everything is being married. There's so many forms of bondage, but we're actually called to walk in freedom. Who the sun sets free is free indeed. That's what the Bible says.
Focusing on Spiritual Mission and Future Opportunities
00:27:18
Speaker
When we come to these retreats, we heavily focus on freedom. We heavily focus on, hey, are you grieving? Is your heart broken? Great. Let's pray over that. Did you have a miscarriage and you think that you did something wrong or that the Lord is trying to punish you? Great.
00:27:43
Speaker
Let's go after that. Let's pray over that. Let's break the bondage that's over your life because the truth is, is we are called to preach the gospel as Christians, preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons. But because Satan is so wise and he has had so many years to perfect his game plan,
00:28:13
Speaker
He knows that if he can keep us in bondage, we're gonna be too full of depression to set the captives free or heal the sick or spread the gospel. If we think that, oh my gosh, like my kids are driving me nuts and I'm a victim to my crazy life, you're distracted from preaching the gospel, healing the sick or casting out demons because all you see are your troubles.
00:28:42
Speaker
if all you do is smoke weed and you want to be numb all the time because you are not healed,
00:28:51
Speaker
you're not going to be able to preach the gospel, heal the sick, or cast out demons because the devil has you distracted. I can speak this one from experience because I have been there. I used to say, oh my gosh, what does it matter if I smoke weed? It's legal. What does it matter?
00:29:13
Speaker
It's just like people have a glass of wine, like what's the issue? No, the issue is that you're distracted from your mission. Your mission is to, like I said, preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons. And if you're too riddled with bondage to do that, then you're distracted, you're deceived. And the devil, one of his names is the great deceiver. He deceives us into thinking
00:29:42
Speaker
into distracting us from what we're called to do. And these retreats are a place where you get to take off that distraction, where you get to sit down and say, actually, I feel like I'm a victim in my house because my four-year-old is very bossy and very sensitive and I feel like a victim.
00:30:10
Speaker
And I feel like such a victim that I can't take him to church on Sunday or I don't even want to pray over him because as soon as I put him in bed, like I'm just ready for him to go to bed, you're distracted. And this is a place where you get to come in and you get to say, you know what? I'm going to pause. I'm going to recognize what's going on in my life. And I'm going to have these beautiful women to come around me and pray this off of me. And so.
00:30:40
Speaker
It's like, it's just, it's more than a retreat. Like it's literally more than a retreat. It's, it's an experience. It's a spiritual God-filled experience. And so, um, a little plug for you guys at the end. So I have a friend, she will be running an inner healing retreat in April. The location hasn't been announced yet.
00:31:07
Speaker
but she sees that there's such a need for women to get to these retreats that she's actually going to start doing sponsorships, which is where you apply for a sponsorship and another woman will pour into your, how much it costs for you to go. So if you're listening and you're like, sign me up,
00:31:35
Speaker
but maybe you don't have the funds to go. Connect with me on Instagram and sponsorship is something that is accessible to you for that retreat. Um, also for next fall, I will be running an inner healing retreat in Tennessee, which is my hometown of Chattanooga. I am feeling incredibly called to
00:32:04
Speaker
so into that city and the women of that city. So if you're interested in coming to the Chattanooga retreat in 2024, please connect with me. It will be very limited because these are, you know, intimate settings, but I would absolutely love to connect with you guys on these, um, retreats and,
00:32:30
Speaker
Oh my gosh, they're going to be so incredibly powerful. So that's my experience. As you guys can see, it's more than just an airplane ride. It's more than just going and hanging out with girlfriends. It's like a whole spiritual experience that I just feel like every woman needs to go through at least once. So I love you guys. Thanks for tuning in today to the Listen Sis podcast and we'll chat soon.