Selah: 2021 Retreat Theme
Selah. Have you heard this word before? Chances are you’ve read it in the Bible, or maybe you’ve heard of the band by the same name. Whether it is common in your vernacular or brand new to you, I want you to take a moment and soak in the realities of this God-breathed word.
The Hebrew word Selah is found in Scripture 74 times, and 71 of those occur in the book of Psalms. Many commentaries say that Selah is a mysterious, ambiguous word—a word with uncertain meaning. However, I’ve also read commentaries that say King David used this word in the Psalms as a place to take a breath, to settle into what was just said, to rest and remember.
I know that in the early days of my grief, the idea of Selah was the furthest thing from my mind. Did rest sound good? Yes! However, I didn’t really know how to rest in a biblical way. After my daughter’s stillbirth, I remember wishing someone would have handed me a notecard that gave me a list of the “5 Things To Do to Get Over This Pain.” Absurd, right? It’s true. I would have welcomed that in a heartbeat and strived to check everything off that list perfectly, and in record time. That isn’t Selah, That isn’t what God’s heart for me was in my suffering. And it isn’t His heart for you in your suffering either.
Let’s read Psalm 3:3-4 together:
“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord,
and He answered me from His holy hill. Selah”
Psalm 3:3-4
These simple verses are packed with so much beauty for sufferers, which is why we chose it as the key verse for our Virtual Retreat Experience this year. Our God is a shield around us, our glory, the lifter of our heads. The One who comes to us when we are in our darkest hour. The One who hears our cries, and the One who answers them. He protects us with Himself and becomes our glory, which, in turn, becomes a testimony through us for His glory.
Sweet sister, God is inviting you to Selah with Him amid this grief. He wants you to rest, pause, breathe, and remember all that He has done and will continue to do. I know you’re tired. I know there is a clear divide between who you once were and who you are now, and sometimes you don’t recognize that girl in the mirror. Getting over the sadness isn’t the goal, having a heart like Christ is. That is what heals us. God is growing something, even if you can’t see it. You just have to hold on. Selah.
“You are free to take your time here,
in starless skies, under the blue…
you are free to grieve
and you are free to rest.
There is space for you.
You have loved
with a whole heart.
You have fallen shipwrecked on the shores of grief.
And there is room for you to rest now.
To just breathe
and simply be.”
–Morgan Harper Nichols, excerpt from Breathe+Be
Registration for our 2021 Virtual Retreat Experience is now open and we want to invite you in to spend two days with us as we Selah together. You don’t have to be ashamed to come broken, angry, hurting, questioning, nervous, or healing—we want you as you are. We want to hear your story—and not the summed up or detached version we Hope Moms so often share with others—but rather the long and heartfelt story of your baby and your grief, because you are safe to be your baby’s mom with us. In fact, that’s what we want most for you! We want to provide you with space away from your everyday life where you can just be your baby’s mom and breathe. It is our great prayer that you would find rest, connect with the Lord, make friends, and be anchored to the compassion and healing that Christ offers to those who suffer. You are loved!
Learn more and register for our 2021 Virtual Retreat Experience HERE.
- Jennie
Hope Mom to Paige Marie
Jennie is the Executive Director for Hope Mommies. She and her husband Brian live in Washington State and have four precious children together— Trenton who is 14, Paige who has been in Heaven with Jesus since August 2, 2010, Mason who is 9, and Cora Jane who is 2. If you were to knock on her front door today, you’d find her in jeans and a t-shirt drinking a hot cup of tea (and she’d offer you one too!) while trying to figure out how to balance all the things – like spending time in God’s word, tending to her home, pruning her roses, serving with Hope Mommies, and online schooling with her kids! She adores being a new creation in Christ and prays she reflects Him well on this earth.
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