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Body, soul & spirit

How we were filled to overflowing during one amazing week!

By Tineke Ziemer

October 8^th, 2018

what does it take to be happy?

Why are so many people unhappy? In a culture where we have everything we need and so much more, the question begs to be answered.

I began exploring this topic on a deeper level a couple of years ago as God revealed a passion in my heart to help people find full and healthy lives. I began asking myself this question: "What do people need to be truly healthy and happy?" The misconception is what society tells us: do what makes you feel good. But there are millions of people out there falling further into disillusionment and depression as they follow that lie.

To be truly healthy, we must consider our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. As I dug deeper into what that might look like, a dream began emerging in my heart. I started to feel a desire to provide an experience full of the things every human being needs to be healthy. Pieces of my life journey began to fit together and form a picture that made sense as I realized that my passion for the Word of God, photography, fitness, nutrition and counselling could all come together in one very special ministry.

In the meantime, my close friend, Sherrylynn, had a similar dream awakening in her soul. God showed her a future of helping women heal by connecting them through friendship, faith and working with their hands. It soon became apparent that we had a mutual calling. Over the past three years, we have waited for God to reveal the right timing for this ministry to unfold. He has been preparing our hearts and guiding us, allowing us to grow into it slowly. We still have no idea exactly what the future holds, but we wait with eager expectation for God to reveal his plan, little by little.

One giant leap

After starting with some low-key endeavors, the opportunity arose to do a whole week-long retreat on Vancouver Island. This was a giant leap for us! It was finally time to let God run with it and make ourselves available to his calling in a big way.

The idea behind the retreat was to enable women to experience a lifestyle rich in all areas of health. It was a step of faith! We felt uncertain and inadequate about our own abilities, but God made it clear. He wanted us to leave it in his capable hands and not overthink it!

Here is a look at our incredible week, and the eight things God used to bring us into a fuller life in Him.

physical challenges

Keeping our bodies fit is so important to maintaining physical and mental health. We hiked to some gorgeous places on Vancouver Island during the week. It was rewarding to see these ladies face the challenges with determination and celebrate their accomplishments together! It was not always easy, but the views made it well-worth the trek.

spiritual growth

Our hearts yearn for spiritual connection with our Savior and it is the most vital part of our overall health. We had mornings digging into God's word, eyes lighting up as He revealed something new, voices spontaneously lifted up in song as we drove, evenings sharing the whispers we'd heard from the Spirit throughout the day. Our spirits were uplifted, filled to overflowing, and pouring out all over the place.

There is not enough space on this blog for me to share all of the incredible spiritual revelations that were given during our week. This was a major focus of the retreat. We left it open for the Lord to lead and he had a very powerful plan in store. On day one, everyone shared an area of their life that needed a spiritual breakthrough. We spent the week praying for those areas, ministering to one another, sharing personal revelations from the Holy Spirit, and watching as walls came down in incredible ways! We worked through each obstacle together and supported one another through some extremely challenging emotional moments. At the end of the week, the Lord put it on our hearts to have a coronation ceremony. Each person received a banner with a word that symbolized their victory over their struggle, a certificate that celebrated their new identity in Christ, and a crown that solidified their status as daughter of the King. The Spirit moved in ways that superseded our hopes by a million miles that week. It was painful to walk through the refiner's fire. It took courage to face our fears. It took humbleness to repent of our old ways and embrace the new. But it was stunningly POWERFUL! How beautiful to witness the Shepherd's faithfulness when 7 people surrendered to his plan.

rest & rejuvenation

This is an often overlooked but critical basic human need. We yearned to provide an atmosphere of beauty and refreshment so the girls could let their worries fade away and soak in the moment. It was in the little things, like watching the sun rise on our private beach in the morning, fresh bouquets of flowers placed around the house, ocean waves lapping at our toes, and quiet moments of reflection on the deck. It meant being willing to cancel some of our plans in order to keep our days from being overfilled and rushed. These moments were incredibly valuable to our body, mind, soul and spirit.

fun & laughter

There is something so freeing about laughing until it hurts! As much as we needed to face some deep issues during this retreat, it was also critical that we broke up the heavy stuff with some plain old FUN. Games and activities were designed to help us let go of everything else and just laugh for awhile. One such game involved a hysterical team selfie challenge all around Victoria. We were total goof balls, climbing on playground equipment, 'fighting' over which pooch to pose with, acting like monkeys hanging from trees and dying with laughter over Janette & Michelle's crazy selfies. Those moments of complete abandon were so refreshing!

creativity

The Scriptures say that God created us in His own image. Since he is the Creator, I believe we also have an innate desire to create built into our DNA. Creativity comes in so many forms that the options were endless. We chose to focus on photography and had fun photo scavenger hunts and projects each day. Participants did not need to have any experience and they were welcome to use cameras or cell phones to capture their images. It challenged us to see the world in new ways. I am absolutely blown away by some of the stunning images they captured. (They have posted some on their own facebook pages.)

Sherrylynn planned other enjoyable crafts for us as well, which involved painting, sculpting, and crafting. It was such an emotional release to sit around, giggling together and expressing our inner creativity by making things with our own hands.

lasting relationships

At the core of every human heart is the desire to love and be loved. Deeply.

I'm not talking about surface-level friendships, but the kind who you can share your heart with and know you won't be judged, the kind that cry along with you when you are hurting, the ones who call you out on your crap when they need to, the ones who accept you no matter where you are on your journey.

Even though everyone didn't know each other on this trip, it was beautiful to see those bonds form during the week. In only 7 short days, we went through so much together - the good, the bad, and the ugly - that we undoubtedly have a connection that will last forever.

These are the kind of friends who group hug you when you are at your lowest moments, who slow down and walk with you when you can't keep up on the hike, who carry your back pack when the trail gets hard, who are willing to drive an extra hour in the dark in the rain to look for a lost wallet because "we are in this together, Tineke!" These are friends who snort when they laugh which makes you laugh more, who stay up until 2 am praying with you when your pup has gone missing, who hold your hand and calm you down when you are facing your deepest fears, who sing at the top of their lungs even when they don't really know the song, and who aren't afraid to change a tire on the side of the road at 4 am even though they've never done it before. These are the friends who share the incredible high of seeing orca whales from the ferry, and the immense lows of fearing for the future of your child. These friends kill abnormally giant spiders as long as you are willing to pick up the carcasses. These friends get up at 2 am so you can attend your grandma's funeral on the way to your retreat. These friends will ask total strangers to take silly selfies of your group in the BATHROOM and will follow you around to shops all afternoon even though they don't share your love of shopping. They will jump in the freezing cold waves with you until your legs are numb and your clothes are soaked and it's raining, but you don't care because it's so exhilariting! And in case you are wondering, ALL of these things really did happen in just one week. In fact, this list is just the tip of the ice berg!

The amazing thing is, the world is full of friends just like these! If only we will open up our hearts and put ourselves out there and let down our walls and share adventures with people we've never met, we will find them!

adventure & exploration

When I step into a dense forest and see the sunlight streaming through the trees, my heart softens. When I stand beneath a powerful waterfall and feel the wind whipping against my face, I let go. When I'm walking on the beach, seeing all of the treasures that have washed up, I open up to receive.

Being in nature, seeing new places, following new paths, examining details on intricately designed creatures, looking in wonder at the beauty of our world - is DANG good therapy! Adventure is in our soul! It's an important part of a healthy lifestyle to expand our minds and experiences. Learning is a lifelong process, and it's important to give our minds as many opportunities to learn as possible.

From exploring our own beach and finding vast amounts of marine life to climbing up to the top of a hundred-year-old train trestle, we filled our week with adventure. Standing under waterfalls, searching for driftwood in caves, braving a forest of spider webs, and being charmed by the colourful houses at Fisherman's Wharf were just a few highlights.

service to others

No matter how much we do to have healthful lives, we can never be truly happy if we don't serve others. We were made to give, to come alongside our fellow man, to share God's love. We were each created with unique gifts and talents that have a special role to play in God's plan. There is nothing that takes your mind off our own problems like helping someone else in need.

This was a key part of the retreat, and we designed it to allow each person to be active in serving in various ways throughout the week.

Everyone had one meal to prepare for the others. It was a delicious treat to eat food lovingly prepared by someone else's hands, especially for us mommas who are usually doing all the cooking at home. The table was set with care and as we all came around it, filling our tummies, sharing stories from the day and laughing together. It filled a need in our hearts at the basic level of who we are.
Each day, we were given someone's name to pray for, minister to and encourage. We spent 24 hours with that person on our heart. We looked for ways to bless them with little gifts, notes of encouragement, scriptures, words of revelation and in one case, a very wonderful pedicure!
One of our craft activities was to paint rocks. We kept one for ourselves, gave one to another member of the group and made a third to bring to Victoria with us, where we could give it to someone we met or leave it as a surprise for someone to find. It was a simple gesture, but really left a wonderful feeling in our hearts to do it.

One of the most important aspects of a balanced life is to be willing to self-sacrifice for others. Sometimes that shows up in giving the best bed to someone else, buying someone a tea, giving up the front seat to others who get car sick, helping to carry a heavy backpack on a hike, walking at the pace of the slower group members, standing in the rain to hold an umbrella above a friend's camera, or going without sleep to pray with someone in need. One of the greatest lessons learned by some of our retreat members is that it's OKAY to allow people to sacrifice for you. In fact, it gives them an equal or greater blessing to do it. We often separate ourselves from people because we don't want to be a burden to them, but it is truly a gift to allow our friends to come along side us and LOVE us through life. We are not in this journey alone!

what does the future hold?

Only the good Lord knows! But we believe this is just the beginning of a beautiful ministry that helps people to step into a fuller life in Christ. We seek to help people find balance between all of the desires of the human heart: physical challenges, spiritual growth, rest & rejuvenation, fun & laughter, creativity, lasting relationships, adventure & exploration and service to others.

No two retreats will ever be the same, because the Holy Spirit unfolds his plan in the moment, and we are just available to receive it. As the Lord leads, we hope to offer many more retreats in the near future, so if you are interested, let us know! We hope to experience new places and add new faces and grow as a strong, loving group of Believers sharing this beautiful journey called life.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NASB