Title: Come Away with Me
Author: Cynthia Hyle Bezek
Publisher: NavPress
URL: www.NavPress.com
I recently completed a 12-week Bible study on prayer with a group of women from our church. The group members and I were excited about the possibility of having a prayer retreat but there seemed to be many different ideas of what a prayer retreat should consist of and how to go about organizing one. So…this book was a timely one for me and I was happy to be given this opportunity to write a brief book review on it.
Come Away with Me is a very concise guide to prayer retreats—what they are and are not, how and what you need to get started, and other ideas to inspire your time alone with God.
Cynthia Hyle Bezek, the author of Come Away with Me, shares some of the personal challenges she faced when starting her own personal prayer retreats, practical tips on what worked for her, ideas on what to do on your own personal prayer retreat, and a sample schedule for a group retreat. She also included stories from other people’s experiences with personal prayer retreats and retreats held with others.
This book can be read in one or two hours and I really enjoyed it. It is a practical, easy-to-follow guide that will show you how to spend important alone time with your heavenly Father in prayer. Scriptural references were also included and there was a brief description on how to do a lectio divina (a nearly 1,000-year-old Christian method of reading and praying Scripture for the purpose of life transformation).
I was inspired to strengthen my prayer time by holding consistent personal prayer retreats. Misconceptions were clarified and many of the questions I had about how and why to hold prayer retreats were answered. After some experience with personal prayer retreats, I am looking forward to sharing what I’ve learned with others and leading a prayer retreat for a group of women who, like me, desperately need to accept God’s invitation to come away with Him so that He can restore and refresh us.
If you are interested in strengthening your relationship with your heavenly Father through prayer and time alone with Him, then this book is just what you need to help you get started. Like me, you may be inspired to look at prayer retreats as a necessity and not a luxury any of us can afford to do without.
- Have you ever spent a full day or more alone with God? If so, what was that experience like for you?
- What is the biggest challenge you face in taking one or two days to spend time alone with God in prayer?
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