Last October, I attend the LifeWay Girls Ministers Retreat. I went fully expecting a time full of laughter, tears, and most of all idea sharing! However, when I got there, I quickly found that wasn’t the plan…instead a guided prayer retreat had been set up for us. I was so tired, weary, and overwhelmed with the constant go, go, go of ministry that I realized I hadn’t stopped like this in a long while.  I have participated in lengthy prayer retreats before and know the richness of them, but to be honest, I found myself terrified about this lengthy time alone. Was I just too dry?

I’m sure you can guess, the Lord did what only He does best…He was faithful. What a fruitful, refreshing, sweet time. We all needed it. How had we let ourselves go so long without it? Which made me realize… if my heart needed this, how much more do my girls need this? How could I deprive them of learning about and experiencing one of our most important spiritual disciplines? I became burdened for my girls and the closeness with the Lord that was so readily available. I began immediately to pray about what this would look like for us and this past Saturday we held our first Silence and Solitude day!

Here’s a quick overview of what our Silence & Solitude Day, aka Guided Prayer Retreat looked like for us, but keep in mind that every ministry is different, so don’t feel locked into just these ideas…which are merely just a combination of a few different prayer experiences I have had.

First off, I decided to offer this only to High School girls. I didn’t see this as an “event” but more as an opportunity. This is for girls that want and crave to go deeper. With that said, it couldn’t be about numbers. I was going to be perfectly happy if only five girls show up or if 30 girls showed up because again, this is not an event, it’s a designated time set aside to meet with God.

We are started off our time with lunch. During lunch I gave a 15-minute talk on prayer being a spiritual discipline. I talked about the time we were about to enter and how there were no rules on how they spend this time. I was providing a guided prayer time, but if they needed to go pray in another room,  pray longer at one station, etc, that was ok! If they fall asleep, that was ok! There were no rules…it’s just them and God.

After lunch some of my Sunday School teachers that came washed the girls feet and prayed over them to help prepare there hearts.  I prayed over them as well and then sent them off. The first 45 minutes each girl will go off by themselves with nothing but a verse and directions. They were instructed to go somewhere where they could feel comfortable talking out loud to God. This wasn’t Bible reading time or journal time…it’s mediation time. After I sent the girls off, I personally washed each of my Sunday School teacher’s feet, prayed over them and then sent them into the prayer experience as well.  Washing the girls feet was the extent of their duties for this event.

After the alone time, the girls went through various stations. I had classrooms set up with some sensory prayer stations that include touch, smell and taste with specific prayer directions. It was more interactive. In our larger room. I had 15 prayer stations that had been set up around a candle lit room (battery operated candles). Each station (or chair) contained a card that instructed the girl to pray and journal a certain way. These specifically have the girls looking at their heart, their desires, their ministry, and their closeness with God. While praying for our country/President, our friend who lost their job, and our cousins’ sickness are all extremely important; this time was focused rather on the girl and her relationship with God. The girls were instructed to just make it through all these stations at their leisure. The food and drink was still set out if they needed a break, but their was to be absolutely no talked or use of cell phones during this process.

At the close of retreat, we all gathered for an opportunity to share about the experience. It was really just amazing to hear of the testimonies from each girl and leader as they shared bits of how the Lord worked through this time. Each girl admitted being nervous about what this would be like – they couldn’t believe they had actually been silent and in constant prayer for THREE HOURS – but all said they would do it again in a heartbeat, even requesting that this be on our calendar next year!

So, yes, this was our first annual prayer day of Silence and Solitude. As a Girls Minister, there isn’t any better opportunity I’d rather pour energy and resources in than strengthening our core spiritual disciplines. We can get so caught up in cultural topics that we lose focus on our foundational disciplines. Don’t get me wrong, our ministry talks about gossip, boys, modesty, and so forth, but if I also know that days like this where we focus on the discipline of relying on God and talking to God first, are going to provide the kind of fruit that impacts those topics much more naturally.

I LOVE sharing Girls Ministry ideas and hearing from you too! Always feel free to contact me if you have questions about this ministry opportunity or anything else! Even though I don’t know you by name, know I am praying for the ministry to girls across our globe!

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28-30, MSG