Do You Need to Let Go?
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Ten years ago, my college friend, Mary Ann, called me up and said, “Lisa, I’ve got this idea and you are part of it. What if we went back to our college and put on a spiritual retreat for the women we went to school with? We could call it: “The Way We Were the Way We Could Be.” Immediately feeling a connection to the concept, I responded, “I love it, but think it should be: “The Way We Were, The Way We Can Be.”
Mary Ann and I had both surrendered our lives to Christ since our days at Texas Lutheran College and were both Christian speakers. Except for one year that we took off, we’ve planned a themed retreat at our college every year and have had anywhere from seventeen to twenty-eight women attend. We’ve had great team members who helped with decor, food and the technical needs, and God has always shown up and blessed the event.
But this year feels different. Even though we’ve planned exciting entertainment on Friday night with an award-winning country singer Clifton Jansky, set to perform, a few of our regulars are iffy. I am not sensing the same enthusiasm from potential attendees as in years past, and I’m wondering, “Is this season over?”
Planning the Texas Lutheran Women’s Retreat has been a labor of love. It is my heart to give back to my old friends, as well as the school. A big partier and a bit goofy in college, I am not proud of the “way I was” but I love demonstrating the transformation that Christ made in my life. I am a “new creation.” I want nothing more than to show God’s love to my old classmates and to teach them some of the things He has taught me.
But I have to pay attention to the signs. I want to flow with the Holy Spirit’s current, and not swim upstream.
Our leadership team, Mary Ann, Carol and myself, seem to be in agreement. All receiving the same Holy Download, we feel this could be our final event, but we still want to make this the best retreat ever! I am sad, but at the same time, there is peace because I believe this is God’s will. The season is over, and it was a good one.
What season is coming to a close in your life?
Is God telling you to move in a different direction?
It’s important to not cling to the old, because if you do, you may miss a new blessing that God has waiting for you.
It may be time to let go.