Run away, Retreat!! Retreat!! Don't go on Retreat!!

Hear, then, what the LORD says: Arise, present your plea before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice!

Micah 6:1

So this past week I head up on a train to Siliguri, and then onwards to my retreat in Kurseong (3/4ths of the way up the mountain to Darjeeling). Luckily the Lord had given me the above verse, just before I left. I think He forsaw the struggle in my soul.

During the train ride, I began to doubt if I was supposed to go to a retreat. And I really wanted to go to Darjeeling with the group. I began to question if I should go to retreat, or just call it off, and hang out with the group.


Everything in my soul seemed against going to the retreat.


But one thing kept ringing in my head... present your plea before the mountains.

Then we got off the train and into the Sumo (a 10 person taxi-jeep) and started to head up the mountain. And my soul struggled more and more. "Why am I going to a retreat? The priest isn't even going to be there! I should go to Darjeeling and hangout."

But the voice kept repeating. Hear, then, what the LORD says: Arise, present your plea before the mountains.

Yet the further up the mountain, the more my soul struggled, the more I felt oppressed. The more I hated to leave the group, the more I doubted. The more I called my self selfish and greedy for going on a retreat. The more I had to restrain myself from telling the driver to just go to Darjeeling.


Then I got out of the Taxi... they said it was Goethals... It wasn't. But luckily my few words of Hindi came in handy. "Kaha Goethals sei?" I said to a man descending a hill. He said 30 minutes up the mountain more. I was about to walk it, but he said to use the Taxi. I doubted it would be cheap, but it turned out to be only 10 rps.


The moment I got into the second Taxi, the moment I had fully committed to going to the retreat, the burden lifted from my soul. And joy began to swell up in my heart.


The moment I walked through the gate, a wave of peace washed over me and I knew this was where I was supposed to be. And I thanked the Lord for seeing the struggle and answering my prayers even before I knew I needed to pray.


The funny thing about the verse, was that it was the only one I had read out of my bible in a few weeks (outside of mass readings). I find that in times of great trial or in other times where God wants me to be reassured that a Word is from Him, He does this to me. He has me open the bible and immediately happen upon a verse that rings true in my soul... each time the verse has something very specific about my situation. And each time, following the Word brings great fruit.