24 hours at Serenity — lessons in stillness, receiving, and what God can do when we become quiet enough to hear Him.

by Dr Bibi Ajayi, PharmD. 

We knew why we were going. At least, we thought we did.

In July, two of our “Keepers of the Well”, as I like to call our Well Nurtured Woman (WNW) leadership, spent 24 hours at Serenity Retreat. During our time at Serenity, we quickly recognized that this was to be the first of many retreats. Our intention was simple: step away from the noise and busyness, spend time with God, and create space to hear His heart for the WNW mission.

While we’d planned for four to attend, only two of us were able to go. Looking back, I don’t think that was accidental.

Although my friend and I have known each other for years, something shifted in that uninterrupted time together with Abba Father. God deepened our relationship while also meeting each of us personally.

Almost immediately, the quiet of Serenity Retreat became part of the experience. My friend later described walking from the sleeping quarters to another part of the property and hearing almost nothing except the stillness and the gravel underneath her feet.

That description stayed with me because it captured Serenity Retreat perfectly.

The property was beautiful, comfortable, peaceful, and remarkably well cared for. Serenity staff were warm and hospitable. Although other guests were present, there was an unusual sense of solitude.

For women accustomed to nurturing, leading, helping, and carrying numerous responsibilities, that kind of environment does something…

The noise begins to fall away and you realize how rarely you are truly quiet.

Someone Had Prepared for Us

One of the most meaningful parts of our experience was the intentionality behind it.

We each received a personalized folder containing our room information, itinerary, prayer ministry time, Bible study, and other details. There was structure, but not rigidity. We could flow with what was happening rather than feeling pressured by a schedule.

Now, Tiffany, the Retreats Director, had prepared for us in another way.

She had prayed before we arrived. She spent time asking God what He wanted to say to us and to the vision called Well Nurtured Woman and our mission. She prepared Scriptures and reflections specifically for our visit.

There is something nurturing about knowing someone prepared a room for you before you’ve entered the room.  Even more powerful is knowing they prepared their heart for you and I could see that so clearly.

God Met Me There

Our stay included an optional Transformational Prayer Ministry experience. This was facilitated by two precious ministers and I could sense they had also prepared the room for me. After explaining the process, what surprised me the most was how little they spoke.

They weren’t there to tell me what was wrong or manufacture an emotional experience. They simply created space, asked questions, and helped me listen. I remember wondering about all the things in my life God might want to address and thinking and laughing to myself “There’s a whole lot, Lord have mercy.”

So, when I was asked what the Holy Spirit was bringing to mind, I marveled at how one specific thing became immediately clear. I didn’t have to search for it. God met me there.

He brought an area I had not completely yielded to Him to the surface, exposed the tension beneath it, and some of the lies I had believed around it.

Then came the exchange. I laid down the lies I had believed to fully and wholeheartedly embrace what God says is true.

What Is in Your Hand?

This question framed much of our time at Serenity Retreats. During the Bible study time Tiffany had prayerfully prepared for, she took us to Exodus 4:2, where God asks Moses:

“What is that in your hand?”

A staff — something ordinary, familiar, and easily overlooked.

Yet God knew what He could do with it. That question became really personal. What have I been carrying that God may now want to use? A skill, relationship, experience or even a wound He has healed?

As I sat with the question, I began thinking about my own story of exhaustion and the experiences that eventually gave birth to the Well Nurtured Woman vision. I sensed God reminding me:

You are the Well Nurtured Woman.

I am not simply being called to create something for other women. God wants me to embody what He is birthing through me. I realized that some of the very things we would prefer to remove from our stories become instruments in God’s hands once they are surrendered to Him.

Moses saw a staff and God saw what He could do with it.

We Came to Retreat. We Left With More.

Something else unexpected happened during those 24 hours. As Tiffany spoke with us, she used language remarkably similar to words God had already been developing within the Well Nurtured Woman vision, despite knowing relatively little about it.

She shared a sense that Well Nurtured Woman could one day help connect weary women with places like Serenity, spaces created for respite, restoration, and encounter. We continue to hold that possibility prayerfully, but it resonated because we were experiencing exactly why such places matter for a Well Nurtured Woman.

I recognize that women need rhythms of rest and retreat embedded in their lives. A time to step away long enough for the noise to settle. A time to receive instead of produce. To be ministered to instead of always ministering and to hear God clearly without competing voices.

We were at Serenity for only 24 hours, from one afternoon to the next. It felt both incredibly full and far too short. We arrived wanting somewhere quiet enough to hear God.

We left having encountered Him personally, having grown closer to one another, and carrying questions that continue to shape what God is building through Well Nurtured Woman.

Perhaps that is what stillness can do. It doesn’t necessarily give us something new.

It may simply make enough room for us to recognize what God has been saying all along.

What is already in your hand?

I went to Serenity thinking I was stepping away from work for 24 hours. Instead, God met me at the well and reminded me that before I can help nurture other women, I must continue allowing Him to nurture me.