002 – Retreat Radio – Hope

Share Your Faith Journey With Us and the Community

Share a time in your life where God’s help provided awesome results. Also, tell us how God prepared you for something that followed.

Go to our comment section and share your story. We will share some of these stories on a future episode with our community.

The Community Needs Your Experience, Strenght, and Hope

We’re all on this journey back home to our Father.  And, all of us have experiences in life that can help others along that journey.  We believe that God set it up that way. So, please share with us and other members of our community, experiences from your journey. We would love to hear from you!

Scripture Reading

  • Romans 8:18-28
  • Romans 5:1-5

Prayer

Lord, thank you for all the blessings you have provided in our lives. In times when we feel helpless, you are there to lift us up. When we are weak, you make us strong. Be patient with us while we are still learning. Provide me the strength of the Holy Spirit to seek out your hope and love, in your name, Amen.

Show Recap

In this episode of Retreat Radio, we began our show by welcoming our faith community. We look at the listeners of Retreat Radio as a community. We are all in this together, seeking and looking to strengthen our relationship with God. Mike shared how having hope requires patience. However, patience isn’t easy. We all are often impatience, not willing to wait regardless if it is with work, our relationship, or material things…

In the first reading that we shared (Romans 8) it states: Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Often times we take what we already have for granted. Do you as part of your normal prayers thank God for what you already have? We tend to pray for what we don’t have, what we want, what our desires are, or the outcome we are seeking.

Mike talked about having the patience to wait. He said there is a real blessing in waiting. By waiting we allow God to prepare us for our challenges, the final outcome that we seek.

The second reading (Romans 5) we shared that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. We all face different struggles in life, and by waiting, God prepares us, he builds our character so we have the perseverance to deal with our struggles. Only through God’s grace is our hope obtained.

Jay shared a story of the backpacking trip he went on with his two kids. Preparing, waiting, a bit of suffering and having the perseverance to climb the mountains. Looking back on his AT hike Jay said the challenges that the trail presented produced character, and the accomplishment provided a sense of pride. We can relate this story to our faith, and our hope in God.

Mike shared his story of the mile swim from Boy Scouts back when he was eleven years old. He shared that at the time was the most exhausting, challenging thing he had done in his life up until that time. The staff keeps encouraging him “you can do it”. God too is constantly pushing us. Telling us we can do it, we just need to believe! Let go, and let God!

001 – Retreat Radio – Belief

It took two years from conception to production, but “Retreat Radio” is on the air!!

Mike and Jay feel so blessed to be able to bring you this weekly program. We hope that you enjoy listening to the show, and reading our blog posts. If you haven’t listened to episode #1, we suggest you find time to download it on your favorite listening device.

So let’s dig into today’s show on beliefs. Our show started with the teaser asking the question; what does all religions have in common? The answer is belief.

Our belief isn’t just a yes or no response to the question do you believe in God. Rather it is the level to which we place our trust in God!

Think back to a time in your life where you felt alone, or overwhelm by something. Did you pray for God’s help? Sometimes our fears take over and we forget that God is always with us to provide direction. Looking back at that situation in your life, can you now see how God played a role in the outcome?

Jay shared a story that his daughter told him while she was doing one of her rotations for her pharmacy degree. She was schedule to work at a local hospital’s oncology department for a month. She was worried that the patients would be depressed, negative, and rude since they were dealing with a terminal illness, cancer. But to her amazement all of the patients were very positive, and welcoming. Patient after patient she discovered were totally at peace. Why? Because they put their total faith in God. She said that was the most rewarding and inspiring month of her clinical rotation. It is amazing isn’t it! Putting our faith in God provides us so much peace and power.

The first reading today was John 3:16. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” In our intro to this bible verse we talked about the sports fan who had the rainbow colored wig on and was always holding a John 3:16 sign, what an awesome display of his faith, proclaiming God’s love.

Who did this guy know to get such great seats to all those major sporting events?

In the second reading we discussed old doubting Thomas. We both understood where Thomas was coming from, and I’m sure most of you would have felt the same way. Jesus comes into the room where they were after being dead for over a week. Not surprising that they didn’t recognize him. I can only imagine how bad Jesus looked and smelled!

I just love the verse from John 20:29… Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me” Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”.

Our call to action from this episode is for you to think back to a time in your life where you were challenged and how God helped you through it. We would also like for you to spend some time in self reflection this week and examine your level of belief. What can you do to deepen your faith in God? Some ideas for you to consider would be to set aside daily prayer time. Look into, and get involved in some sort of volunteer opportunity. Join, or start a faith sharing group.

Okay, that’s it for this week. We hope you subscribe to our podcast so you’re notified when the next episode is available for download.

Also, help us expand the Retreat Radio community by sharing this website and our podcast to family, friends, and members at your place of worship.

May God bless and keep you. May God’s faith shine on you. May God be kind to you and bring you peace!