Reverence: Honor or respect felt or shown.
Hebrews 7
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and was heard because of his reverent submission.”
This passage sort of ruled my week. I wanted to be obedient and eagerly submitted to whatever I felt His will for me was for the moment. With His grace, I was able to follow through even in the smallest of things…like food choices (I had been on a fairly strict gluten free diet plan prior to this, but chose to not make an issue of it and just eat whatever I was served), the clothes I wore (I went with skirts most of the time), and running to the Adoration chapel whenever I needed His direction. The daily schedule that they provided for us was the back bone of my day. I tried to keep as many of the prayer times as I could. I think I may have missed one vigil and a couple of the none hours. But whenever I did, the Lord would use someone to remind me to stay on track.
The most important lesson that I bring back from this is that if anything good happened, it was NOT by my own strength. My body suffered! It got very cold up there at night and the heat was not yet working. One of the women on retreat with us ended up leaving. The bed was hard and my body ached terribly after a while. Getting up for vigils at 3 AM, kind of throws you into a perpetual state of exhaustion for the rest of the day. Eating gluten and whatever else was served, gave me terrible tummy aches. The first day I was there, I even started spotting…after having been in menopause for over a year. I nearly freaked. Nearly. Instead of rushing to call my doctor as they suggest…I texted my friends instead and had them covering me in prayer then I headed to the Adoration Chapel which was two doors down from my room and offered it to HIM! (spotting stopped the next day).
I don’t mention these things to make me look saintly (or crazy depending on your life view)…far from it. It was just what God used to show me that these things don’t matter AT ALL! My spirit was connected with Him! I felt alive and refreshed.
I think that’s the point…that no matter what your state in life, or what the exterior conditions might be…we CAN stay connected. It may take more of an effort out here because there are more distractions vying for our attention…but I’m determined!