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"Come away and rest awhile."

Jesus invites us to be with him, offering our full and undivided attention to him. When we choose retreat, we make a generous investment in our friendship with Christ. We are not always generous with ourselves where God is concerned. Many of us have tried to incorporate regular times of solitude and silence into the rhythm of our ordinary lives, which may mean that we give God twenty minutes here and half an hour there. And there's no question we are better for it! But we need more. Indeed, we long for more.

In these pages Transforming Center founder and seasoned spiritual director Ruth Haley Barton gently leads us intoretreat as a key practice that opens us to God. Based on her own practice and her experience leading hundreds of retreats for others, she will guide you in a very personal exploration of seven specific invitations contained within the general invitation to retreat. You will discover how to say yes to God's winsome invitation to greater freedom and surrender.

There has never been a time when the invitation to retreat is so radical and so relevant, so needed and so welcome. It is not a luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual life.



Ruth Haley Barton (DD, Northern Seminary) is founder of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of pastors, leaders, and the communities they serve. Trained at the Shalem Institute and the Loyola University ChicagoInstitute of Pastoral Studies, she is a seasoned spiritual director, teacher, and retreat leader who has served on the pastoral staff of several churches. Ruth is the author of numerous books on the spiritual life, including Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, and Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest.



Introduction: Invitation to Retreat

1. Strategic Withdrawal

2. Just Flop Down

3. The Sources of Our Exhaustion

Interlude

4. Finding Your Rhythm on Retreat

5. Sweet Hours of Prayer

6. Letting Go of Your Grip

7. Relinquishing False-Self Patterns

Interlude

8. Space for Discernment

9. Invitation to Recalibrate

10. Finding Spiritual Freedom

Interlude

11. Remember the Signs

12. In Returning and Rest You Shall Be Saved

Appendix 1: Fixed-Hour Prayer

Appendix 2: Planning Your Retreat

Notes