Dear reader, 

I write to you tonight in hopes of the words that you may read to encourage you with your faith. That you would see the Father in light of who He is and what He is doing all around us, even when it feels like the opposite is happening. 

If you read my last letter you would have learned how far I had walked amidst hurt. If you didn’t read it that is all fine and dandy, but this letter might not make as much sense out of context. 

As I was walking through the fires over at Christimore I had a weekend trip planned with a bunch of my friends. It was meant just to be a bundle of joy, and relaxation wrapped up in 4 days. 

Long story short everyone backed out for different reasons. Again, it was impossible for me not to work on the weekends unless I had requested it far ahead of time, so I saw the opportunity and I was excited about what God wanted to do with the free time that he opened up. 

One of my brothers in christ reached out to me and asked if I still wanted to do something that weekend, just to get out of the bustle of life and go spend some intentional time in worship and fellowship with each other while also setting aside a lot of time to be with God in the mornings especially. 

I was so eager to go. 

We packed up in his little Toyota Corolla and hit the dusty trail for The Wisconsin Dells. 

We wanted to ensure we started the trip off right so we listened to worship the whole way up. 

Let me tell you if you want to get right before God, sing to Him. Pray to Him. Acknowledge his existence and enjoy His presence. 

That my friend is called abiding.  And it is absolutely necessary to walk on the narrow path Jesus discusses. 

We started out abiding. And we did our best to have that be the focus in each part of our trip.

I was wanting to focus on rest. In three ways specifically. Mentally, Physically, and Spiritually. 

I wanted my thoughts to be abiding in Christ. 

I wanted my actions to be abiding in Christ.

I wanted everything inside and out of me to be focused on the King of the Universe. 

Folks, let me tell you, this is doable in everyday life. I’m learning that slowly and surely. Abiding in Christ in these three ways is like filling up three buckets with water. 

When you go to drink from one of these buckets you need to make sure Jesus is the one who is filling you up.

Acknowledging the truth and letting it fill your mind, heart, and spirit is so refreshing. We all need to be doing this, we need to let Jesus be our everything. 

He fills us and satisfies everything we can ever need. 

This weekend trip was amazing. 

It was quiet. 

I met God there. We talked and he lifted up my heart in every way that I needed it. 

He told me to hold on. 

He told me to stay faithful. 

He told me to lay down everything.

He showed me that He could take all the weight that I was holding onto myself. 

Brothers and sisters, I urge you to go and get right with God. If you don’t know what it looks like, go and read John 15. Jesus lays it out so clearly for us. 

He is the way, the truth, and the life. 

We need Him. 

Go be with Him, He wants to be with you. 

He wants you to know how much you need Him. 

Until next time, 

-Mitchell