By Kim McCullough

A couple of weeks ago the Future Leaders went to a monastery for a one day prayer retreat. I’ll be honest that part of me was dreading the retreat because I have a hard time keeping focused in prayer for longer than 20 minutes so I seriously doubted my ability to last a whole day. However, the other part of me knew I needed a time out. I was feeling caught up in my busy schedule and figuring out ministry and knew I needed time with my Father to refocus.

While we were there we were asked to choose a passage of Scripture to meditate on. I chose Psalm 139, which was my favorite passage growing up. However it took on new meaning for me as I focused on the last two verses. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

These verses came with great comfort to know that through the chaos of life, God knows us inside and out. Even when we can’t even begin to understand how we feel in the midst of everything, God searches our hearts and knows our thoughts and most importantly can direct them towards Him – we just need to take a time out and let Him.