Silent Retreat Day 3 – Why God Wants To Exchange Every Lie With The Truth An Ode To My Good Friend

Feel Good Project day 20

Left my hilltop retreat today with a smattering of glittery miracles trailing behind as I headed back to my life.

Quite a stark contrast to the past week, where I was ready to throw in the towel.

My soul is overflowing, almost more than I can handle.

My passions were reignited and NEW sparks are illuminating my path as I journey into the next season of life. I couldn’t be more excited.

I will process this trip for days and months to come, and I will write more details about the happenings on this retreat at a later time, as I am soaking it all up and marinating on it in my deepest of hearts for the time being. It’s too special to share parts of it yet.

One of my best friends in the world-a true soul mate of mine joined me for the trip. She is the perfect travel companion as we don’t have to be anything but our authentic selves around each other, and know when we need alone time as well as when it makes sense to come together.

It’s wild to reflect back to when I met her. I was fifteen and she was thirsty six-MY age now!!!!! She is mother to my dearest friend from high school and beyond, and I cannot believe the journey we have had together.

Why she ever saw something in me and wanted to be friends with a teenager back then I will never know, but my, how the years have turned us into soul mates as we seem to literally be aligned with our life seasons.

We couldn’t be any more different as far as our stages in life-her four kids are grown and she is grandma to 5 grandchildren, with another on the way! By my age she was done with birthing her babies-I have yet to start! 🙂

But we are both ‘freed up’ in completely different ways to be able to spend these precious trips together.

No matter the life stages though-God always seems to have us going through very VERY similar lessons at the exact same time, which makes the road so much more comforting and way less frightening at times.

She is the most real person I have ever met. She is not afraid to make mistakes, show people who she really is, and loves mightily. This woman who I am blessed to call friend is magnetic, radiant and BRAVE. Charming and witty, she mesmerizes all who she graces with her presence. She is like coming home to a warm bath and comforting cup of tea.

My soul feels at rest when I am with her.

And you wonder why I wanted her on this trip with me!!!!:)

We were both apart writing in our journals in our separate spaces yesterday, when she knocked on my door and delivered a handwritten message to me on an index card. (My first thought was “Wow this woman is organized! She travels with 3 x 5 cards? She assured me that she happened to randomly find one in her bag:)

What I received on that card were precious words I will carry with me forever.

This is what was written to me:

‘God wants to exchange every LIE with the TRUTH. When the lie is exposed, be COURAGEOUS, and make the exchange.

COURAGEOUS: adventurous, audacious, daredevil, gutsy, high-spirited, plucky, valiant, venturesome (‘these are adjectives that describe the way God sees you’, she wrote)

You will be one who does more than walk in her destiny.

YOU WILL RUN.”

Now who wouldn’t want a friend like this?

Talk about feeling good??? These past few days I felt the BEST I have felt in a LONG time.

I let go of some past issues, I faced fears, I heard from God, I got real with my desires, I made some ‘gutsy’ decisions, I drank wine again, I eased up on supplements, I told my body it was healthier than it’s ever been, took a hot bath, walked in orange groves, shared my soul, hiked hills and canyons, dreamed BIGGER than I have in years, and really truly believed that anything is possible.

With friends like her on my side, I really believe anything is.

THAT, my friends is the essence of the feel good project.

Now, if I can just figure out what ‘plucky’ means….

FEEL GOOD MOMENT OF THE DAY: I saved a spider while cleaning my bathroom at the hermitage, so it was left sparkling for the next guest. I save all the spiders I can, as I feel so bad killing creatures of any kind. I got it to crawl onto a piece of toilet paper and proceeded out of my sliding door in my room onto the small porch. I talked out loud to it, telling it that it would be SO much happier out where it belongs. I reminded it how lucky it was and today was it’s day!!!! I told it to be happy as it was now FREE! It felt like a mini-motivational spider pep rally, now that I think about it! Then I turned around. Our fellow house mate/retreat attendee was sitting right on the porch about three feet from me, drinking his morning cup of coffee with a bewildered look on his face. I felt sheepish as he had witnessed this event, and explained I was freeing a spider to the bushes. He looked at me like I was nuts and replied in an ultra cool tone, “Hmmm, is that so?” Don’t know if he was amused or concerned, or just a super spiritual retreater, but what was cool is I didn’t care and laughed about it back in the bathroom. Laughing = BIG factor in the feel good project.