Just returned from a silent retreat in the prayer mountains in Korea. What a wonderful time with the Lord! My friends and I reprised our time last year at the Osanri and Kwang Lim prayer mountain... to spend some time in quiet solitude before the Lord, to seek His face, and to worship.
We had an awesome time fellowshipping with Him and one another. This trip is all the more meaningful to me because we nearly didn’t make it – primarily because of me! All this talk about impending war between North and South Korea and military exercises (including the presence of a US warship in the Yellow Seas) a week before our planned departure made me very nervous indeed. I knew that unless we had peace in our hearts, there would be no point going – after all, this is a prayer retreat! But God is good, and He spoke to the 4 of us individually, in ways that would convict our hearts, that He would go before us and protect us.
And then, while we were in Kwang Lim, He surprised and delighted us in just the way Father God would! He sent us snow, that completely transformed the bleak wintry landscape into what I thought was breathtaking beauty. I never thought it possible, reckoning that Kwang Lim was not at a high enough altitude. But it snowed over two days. We worshipped with singing as the snow came down, but also had fun pelting each other with snowballs, and sticking our tongues out to taste the snowflakes 🙂
Indeed, God does all things well!
That night, I chanced upon Psalm 135:5-7, and mused about how God brought snow out from his storehouse, to bless us with scenery that took our breaths away and brought so much joy to our hearts.
Psalm 135:5-7
5 I know that the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 The LORD does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Postscript: I was last in Korea for silent retreat 10 years ago, and at that time, while Osanri takes bookings in English, we needed someone who could speak Korean to help us with bookings at the Kwang Lim prayer mountain. Not sure if that is still the case today, am afraid.
Osanri Choi Ja-sil Memorial Fasting Prayer mountain
187-5 Osanri Jorimyun Pajucity Kyunggido South Korea, 187-5 Osan-ri, Jori-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
https://fgpray.com/