“God is always there — it is our busyness that makes us blind. When we stay quiet, we will be able to find Him.”

For Xiaochan, it was this quote from Hoboken Grace’s Axiom retreat that exemplified the entire experience. The weekend-long retreat, which took place earlier this month, is an opportunity to get away from that busyness and draw closer in your relationship with God. Those who attended say the retreat brought them rest, clarity, and a greater sense of God’s love and how He sees them.

“It helped me understand who I really am through His eyes, instead of my point of view,” said Xiaochan. “When I evaluate myself, I base my worth on my working performance and my skills. But God sees my character.”

The retreat melds storytelling, movie illustrations, Biblical teaching and personal prayer time, all in an attempt to further your understanding of His dreams and purposes for your life. Participants spend several hours on their own in nature, talking with God, meditating on His Word and simply listening. It’s time and space to be more present in your relationship with Him, and to hear what He might place on your heart.

“I love nature and I love quiet time by myself, but Axiom took it to a new level,” said Yuli. It was an experience, she says, that reminds her of a verse in 1 Kings: “After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

“To be able to sit and meditate in God’s gentle whisper put a few things in perspective for me that I hadn’t been able to grasp until that moment,” she said.

And while some of the retreat was spent in silence, the more time everyone spent opening up to God, the easier it was for everyone to open up with one another, said Yuli, echoing what several others said about the experience.

“You see people every week and at events, but I felt we really got to know a bit more about each other and had a chance to really connect,” said Millie. The mix of interactions – group discussions, small groups and alone time – helped everyone feel more comfortable, she added.

For Rebekah, the experience was well worth it. The retreat, she says, opened up her heart so she could hear what God was speaking into her life.

It brought about a certain rest in her soul, she says – one that inspired her to write a poem during her alone time. While the entire piece is about what happens when we draw closer to Him, the closing lines are a small glimpse of not only His reaction, but also a feeling that Axiom’s founders hope all attendees will experience during the retreat:

For I am still here.

I have not gone away.

And I will not go away.

Not without you.

Let me take your hand now

And show you all I have said.

Listen.

Come.

Then see.