Retreat--carving out intentional time to grow in our relationship with God--is vital to our faith journey. Coming from the Latin root meaning “to draw back,” retreat allows us to withdraw from our everyday lives to hear God’s voice over the cacophony of expectations, commitments, and demands. Just like creating space to spend time with loved ones so that we can enjoy each other in a more meaningful way than our daily routines allow, retreat lets us enjoy time with God in a more meaningful way. There are infinite ways to engage in retreat, but no matter the method, the pause is an opportunity to realign our minds, hearts, and souls to God.
In the 2020/21 school year, so much change and disappointment piled on top of an already stressful course load. NCF Student Ministries staff saw a need for students to be guided in the spiritual discipline of retreat. Led by words from Psalm 46:10 of God reminding us to take time to “be still,” we held our first National Online Retreat. Through teaching, worship, small group discussion, and personal reflection, nursing students came together to learn the value of carving out time to dedicate to God. One student commented, “This retreat provided the reminder I needed to continue to put my faith in God and surrender all to Him and the reminder that I am never alone in my life journey.”
This year, circumstances may be different, but discouragement and anxiety are high, especially in nursing school. It’s easy for studies, career, and stress to become all we see. This world-minded identity is so reliant on our individual performance that when things get to be too much, we can’t find peace. Trusting in God and his plan helps us to realign our identity as his beloved children, which is unchanging.
With that truth in our minds and hearts, we’re offering our NCF Student Ministries 2nd Annual National Online Retreat on Saturday, April 2, 2022, centered around Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you." This retreat, Kept: Finding Peace in Nursing School is a space to process how God wants us to view anxiety and identity so we can be kept in his perfect peace.
While this retreat will be available to individuals online, we’re excited that many of our NCF student groups will be able to watch together on their campus this year. Kept is open to any and all nursing students, faculty advisors, or nurse educators even if they are not part of an NCF chapter on their campus.
Please help us to get the word out by sharing this link. For those who register before March 19, we will be shipping out resources in our popular NCF sling bag.
Whether you already practice retreat as part of your spiritual rhythms or have yet to discover this intentional time to fall back into God’s loving embrace, I pray that you’ll make time in the midst of the day-to-day to be refreshed by the peace of God that passes worldly understanding.
Katharine Provost is a National Campus Staff Minister with InterVarsity/Nurses Christian Fellowship USA.
We are making this retreat and the resource bag free of charge thanks to generous donors. If you would like to partner through giving, please donate here.
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