It's usually a surprise to our guests. They come to a TPM session expecting to talk about what they're feeling and how to feel better about their situation. Instead, they discover…
Early in every TPM 301 Immersive, Brooke asks the room to picture a filing cabinet.
Every drawer full — scripture verses, teachings, techniques, the things you've learned to tell…
It’s usually a surprise to our guests. They come to a TPM session expecting to talk about what they’re feeling and how to feel better about their situation. Instead, they discover that they can actually view their painful emotions (fear, anxiety, overwhelm) as “friends,” because we feel what we believe. Those emotions are like a warning light on the car dashboard. When a situation causes you to feel one of those hard emotions, it’s alerting you to “check under the hood.” Something you’re believing isn’t in alignment with God’s Word. Once you identify what that belief is, the Holy Spirit is ready to do His job: persuade you of the truth.
That’s the moment TPM guests describe as the turning point — not when they figure something out, but when Jesus meets them in it and shows them what’s actually true. A married couple from a recent Personal Healing Retreat in Bellville shared what that looked like for them:
”I didn’t understand why I needed to feel my feelings for most of my life. They just get in the way. But with your help, I have experienced that it is the false belief I have that was in my way of transformation, not the feeling itself.” -G.T.
“The belief that I need to act a certain way or nothing gets better really gets me stuck in seeing the belief as true because it feels true. And this is where TPM is different. When I present that belief to the Lord and ask Him what He wants me to know, it may take a while for breakthrough and that can feel discouraging. But the TPM guide [Mentor] just visits that feeling next and we start again. They aren’t there to tell me what to know or do. The breakthrough will come if I keep learning the art of listening for God and testing what I hear against scripture. It’s gotta line up. And that is when breakthrough happens!” – K.T.
Contact Tiffany Pardue to book your own retreat today: [email protected]
Early in every TPM 301 Immersive, Brooke asks the room to picture a filing cabinet.
Every drawer full — scripture verses, teachings, techniques, the things you’ve learned to tell yourself when your heart hurts. It’s a good cabinet. Years of faithful discipleship built it. But when someone arrives with every drawer already packed, there’s nowhere left for anything new to land. They’re so busy matching what they’re hearing to what they already know that they can’t actually receive it.
Then the question is asked that lays the foundation for the weekend: What if God doesn’t want to teach you something new — He wants to give you what you already know, in a fresh way?
Not a Better Immersive. The Same Posture, Still Working.
If you were with us in May, you know that what God did in you then was real, and it was good. This isn’t a post about how July improved on May. It’s a post about what happens when a team — and a room full of people — actually live the thing we teach, rather than just teaching it.
Because here’s what’s true: we could have opened the same folder in July that we used in May. Nothing would have required us not to. But a posture that receives doesn’t stay still. When you’re actually listening for what the Spirit wants to do next, you stay ready to move when He redirects — not because the last thing failed, but because obedience has a next moment, and you’re still paying attention to it. May was faithfulness to what He was doing then. July was faithfulness to what He was doing now. Same posture. Different day.
Here’s the part I almost left out: the coaches’ drawers had to open too. Months and years of our own faith being refined, our own minds being renewed, left room for the Spirit to fill with more than there was before — not new information, just space for something different. What came out the other side wasn’t just fresh content. It was the principles, purpose, and process of TPM finally integrated, instead of taught as isolated talks and exercises the cohort had to piece together on their own. They could see the whole thing work together, not just hear about each piece separately.
That’s true of us as leaders. It turned out to be even more visibly true of the cohort.
Confidence Isn’t Something You Practice Into
Nearly every person in that room walked in Thursday afternoon tentative about the idea of mentoring anyone. Some were openly anxious. By Saturday, those same people could see themselves as mentors, ready to keep building toward it.
Some might think that shift came from repetition — enough practice sessions and eventually the nerves wear off. I don’t think that’s it. What actually happened is closer to what Saturday morning’s teaching named directly: You are not responsible for transforming yourself. You are only responsible for staying close enough to the fire to let Him.
Their confidence wasn’t manufactured. It was overflow. Every person who walked out more ready than they walked in had spent three days being the one who receives — sitting in the mentee’s seat, letting the Spirit persuade them of something true about themselves and about God. Not just hearing that we’re meant to “be transformed by the renewing of our mind” (Romans 12:2) — experiencing it. You don’t stay afraid of holding space for someone else’s process once you’ve encountered the Lord yourself as someone else held space for yours.
That’s not a technique. That’s fruit.
One Room, Every Starting Point
Joel first learned this work years ago under an older name — Theophostic Prayer — and came back to receive it again in its current form. Julia, Sarah, and Debra arrived at three different points in their own training. Kim had already been mentoring faithfully for three years.
None of them were behind. None of them were ahead. Carol has a picture for this: the stakes driven in beside a newly planted tree, holding it steady until its own roots take hold. Nobody’s expected to stand on their own before they’re rooted enough to. You’re not on your own until you’re actually ready to be on your own — progression happens at each person’s pace, because the goal was never to get everyone to the same place at the same time. It was to meet each one where they were.
Kim’s story is the clearest picture of it. A year ago, I asked her to consider co-leading our 201 course. She said no, not now. This week, she called — not because I’d asked again, but because somewhere in this Immersive, God showed her she was ready. I didn’t do that, and neither did our material. Something in her actually received what He was offering – His truth and perspective – and it changed what she believed was possible for her to carry.
What the Pictures Show
At our last gathering, I looked around and saw small clusters of people deep in conversation — two here, three there, four more out on the porch — the easy, unhurried kind of talk that only happens after three days of being honest with each other.
That’s not something you can build into a schedule. It’s what tends to show up on its own, once people have spent a weekend actually receiving from God and from each other instead of performing for one another.
Meeting You Where You Are
Not everyone reading this is ready for a 301 Immersive — and that’s exactly the posture this whole weekend was about. Meeting people where they are, not where we wish they were.
Never experienced TPM? Sign up for a session.
Don’t know what TPM is? Start with TPM 101.
Ready to begin learning TPM for yourself? Start with TPM 201.
Ready for the principles, purpose, and process of TPM to make more sense? Join our 8-week TPM 301 Zoom course.
Curious to experience an immersive for yourself? Fall 2026 and 2027 dates release in September.
What Happened When I Came to Serve—and Found Myself Set Free
About 12 years ago, I was introduced to TPM through a training in Fort Myers with Ed and Josh Smith. Over the years that followed, God continually nudged me back toward this ministry. I read the books (and even had the privilege of helping edit them), but if I’m being honest, I never got very far in applying TPM to my own life.
About three years ago, I knew it was time to fully respond to His invitation. After reaching out to Ed, he directed me to Serenity Retreat for a few TPM sessions by Zoom. The breakthroughs I experienced in just those three sessions were so profound that I immediately enrolled in TPM 101, 201, and 301 (twice!). That journey eventually led to becoming a Mentor in Training and now a Mentor.
Because I live in Florida, my entire TPM journey had taken place over Zoom. Although I had formed deep friendships through a computer screen, it felt like God was inviting me to take another step—to come to Serenity Retreat in person and serve.
My schedule was exactly what I expected: full. Over three days, I would be mentoring and interceding in six sessions. What I didn’t expect was how much I would personally receive during my time there.
The retreat grounds were everything I had imagined—peaceful, beautiful, complete with a stunning lake and even wandering miniature horses that reminded me of home. But what impacted me most weren’t the surroundings. It was the people and the unexpected ways God met me through them.
In a way only God could orchestrate, my rental management business took an absolutely crazy turn just one hour before my very first in-person mentoring session. Feeling overwhelmed and triggered, my friend Barbara gently asked, “How does that make you feel?”
And just like that, we were off.
The Lord graciously revealed a vow I had made years earlier—one I wasn’t even consciously aware of. As a younger version of myself, I had determined that I would always fight so I wouldn’t be taken advantage of. Within minutes, an incredible session unfolded. God replaced old beliefs with His truth, and I walked into my very first mentoring session with greater freedom and a God-given love for the Mentee than I could have imagined.
A couple of evenings later, while having dinner with another Mentor staying at the retreat center, I found myself unexpectedly triggered again. As she shared about the joy and peace she had found in her marriage—even though her husband hadn’t changed one bit—I realized I was feeling anger toward her.
One of the beautiful gifts of TPM is having relationships where you can honestly say, “I’m feeling angry toward you,” knowing that it’s simply the starting point for discovering what God wants to reveal. Through another beautiful session, the Lord uncovered deeper beliefs about my own marriage—areas where I genuinely thought He had already finished His work.
Apparently, He wasn’t finished yet.
On my last full day in Bellville, I was blessed once again by attending my first in-person Community Chat. What a difference it makes to gather around a table, share a meal, and simply be together. Learning while eating, laughing, and sharing life was a completely different experience than gathering over Zoom.
I was deeply touched by the conversations that unfolded so naturally as we shared what God was doing in our own lives and encouraged one another in the work of mentoring. Together, we discussed how to better walk alongside those seeking freedom, so they, too, could encounter His truth and experience the life-changing freedom that comes from believing it.
Before coming to Serenity Retreat, I assumed I was there primarily to give—to mentor, to pray, and to serve others. While that certainly happened, God also lovingly served me.
I don’t believe it’s necessary to have your own sessions while serving at the Retreat Center. But I do believe God delights in arranging just the right circumstances to uncover deeply buried beliefs—not to make us uncomfortable, but to set us free.
That’s exactly what He did for me.
Scripture tells us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I discovered something else as well: when God allows us to do both at the same time, it’s an incredible gift.
Thank you, Serenity Retreat, for allowing me to serve—and for serving me through His love and His Truth.
The Community Chats that began last year at restaurants around the greater Houston area have been so refreshing. It’s wonderful to hug a fellow prayer minister who we usually see in a Zoom window or whom we miss out on seeing in Bellville because we’re serving on different days. It’s special to have discussions in person as we refine our mentoring skills.
However, there’s something different about sitting around a table in someone’s home — and then in their living room — that moves the conversation in a more intimate and vulnerable direction. That’s what the group — Daniela Barrett, Taylor Gahm, Kim Grant, Marnie Paffenroth, Carol Schwartz, Kathy Walton, and myself — experienced on the afternoon of June 26 as we gathered at Kathy and Scott Walton’s house in Bellville for our first summer Community Chat.
We started with lunch and table conversation, then moved into the den, where Daniela led us in a sweet, rich time of worship, including one of her own compositions. There’s a particular kind of hush that settles over a room full of prayer ministers when the singing starts — and that afternoon was no exception. None of us wanted it to end!
Carol Schwartz, a new core team member, led the group in a discussion of Honoring & Caring Well by Providing TPM With Excellence. And her core message was disarmingly simple:
“The most loving thing we can offer a mentee is to stay out of God’s way.”
Less Us, More Jesus
Carol reminded us of something foundational to everything we do — Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. Transformation comes through His revelation, not through our insight, our wisdom, or our intervention.
“Our role is to serve the mentee well enough in the process that Jesus has room to do what only He can do.”
Our job, she said, is actually less than we think it is — and more restful than we make it.
She was honest about where we drift, and why. Most of us don’t drift because we’re careless. We drift because we care. When a mentee struggles, something in us wants to help. We feel their discomfort. We think we see the path forward. We want the session to move.
That impulse isn’t wrong. But inside a TPM session, acting on it can shift a mentee’s focus from hearing Jesus to hearing us.
So what does excellence actually look like? Not perfection. It looks like staying anchored to the process, and knowing what to do when we feel lost, which we got good tips for.
Taylor put words to it in a way that stuck with the room. When asked what this looks like in practice, he said simply that it starts with being “faith-filled and doing his best”. We all agreed that we need to learn to “be present” and be “comfortable with quiet”. Two great reminders are there is “nowhere to get” and the guest in front of us was already walking with Jesus before they ever came to us for help. It’s a good reset. The mentee’s relationship with Jesus doesn’t typically start in the session, and it doesn’t depend on us.
Refining Our Skills Together
From there, we addressed a question that had been submitted in advance about how to handle a Solution Within a Solution. Everyone got to practice recognizing the solutions and how to maneuver from one solution to the next one. By the end, the prayer ministers felt more equipped to recognize and manage this dynamic better in future sessions.
An Answered Prayer, in Her Own Home
This kind of gathering means something a little extra this summer, since one of our own traveled a long way to be part of it. Marnie Paffenroth, one of our prayer ministers based in Florida, flew in for a full week of serving alongside us — which meant she got to trade Zoom squares for actual faces and actual hugs with ministers she’d only ever met on a screen. (You can read more about her week in her own words on serenityretreat.com.)
Kathy, our host for the afternoon, shared her reflections of the gathering in her own home:
“My aha was more Jesus, less me. So many times I just want to ‘say’ something and I realized that is often ‘me’ wanting to be heard and often could be interfering with what Jesus is doing. Love the vision of Jesus being so big in the room and me being so little.
It was an answered prayer to be in community together. I have been praying to be a part of an honest, authentic, not afraid of truth, loving community. Thank you, Lord.
Hosting is also an answered prayer. This is God’s house so any time it can be used to grow and benefit His kingdom — I get super excited. Hearing the praise echo through the walls where I live — ain’t nothing like it! So grateful!!!” ❤️
What Stays with Us
Carol closed the afternoon with a line that’s easy to remember and hard to fully live out:
“We are exceptional prayer ministers. And the most exceptional thing we can do is get out of the way and let Jesus be Jesus.”
That’s the heartbeat of what we’re all learning together — not to fix, not to lead, but to make room. And afternoons like this one, around the Waltons’ table, remind us we’re not learning it alone.
What’s Next?
Whether we gather in a home or at a restaurant, a Community Chat will be coming your direction this summer — Sugar Land/Richmond area, Houston, possibly Spring, and of course on Zoom for our prayer ministers out of state and out of the country. If anyone would like to open up their home for the next chat, contact me at [email protected].
And this fall we’ll be back at the Waltons’ home in Bellville. She said we are welcome anytime, so we’re taking her up on it.
250 years since Independence Hall. 250 candles on a cake none of us were there to watch as they began being lit, one by one. And somewhere in the middle of the fireworks and flags this year, a quieter number kept surfacing in me.
25.
This fall, Serenity Retreat turns 26. A tithe of our nation’s history, given back to the One who gave it. One-tenth. It felt too specific to ignore.
So I did what I tend to do when a number won’t leave me alone—I went looking for what it means.
Here’s what I found, and it spoke to me: British historian Sir John Glubb spent his later years studying roughly a dozen empires—Assyrian, Roman, Ottoman, British among them—and found that most lasted around 250 years, or ten generations, before the weight of their own success caught up with them. He traced a shape to it: Pioneers, then Conquest, then Commerce, then Affluence, then Intellect, then Decadence—that last stage marked less by weakness than by wealth without character, spectacle replacing conviction, and a fraying willingness to sacrifice for something bigger than ourselves. Historians still argue over whether Glubb’s pattern is destiny or coincidence. I don’t need it to be either. I just need to ask what it’s pointing at.
We are standing on it.
Not behind it, looking back at what was. Not past it, coasting on what’s certain. On it. The precipice. The place where a nation either becomes the exception or becomes a paragraph in someone else’s history book.
I don’t say that to alarm. I say it because I believe the Lord puts numbers like this in front of us—250, 25 to 26, one-tenth—not necessarily as omens or prophecy, but as an invitation to ask of Him.
What is required of us now? As a nation. As the people of God living inside it. As individuals kneeling in our own kitchens at 6 am or/and midnight, wondering if our prayers are doing anything at all.
I’m not sure how much the answer changes from age to age. It rarely does. Though that doesn’t mean His response—His Word isn’t still all we ever need.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” —2 Chronicles 7:14
Humble. Pray. Seek. Turn. Four verbs standing between a nation and its healing, and not one of them requires an election, a headline, or anyone else’s cooperation. They only require us.
The Lord has never needed a majority to move a nation. Scripture is a long, quiet argument for the power of the remnant—the few who actually listen, actually agree, actually worship Him in spirit and truth while everyone else argues about who’s right. Gideon’s army was cut down to three hundred before God would use it. Elijah, certain he was the last faithful man standing, was told there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee. He just couldn’t see them yet.
Is that still true?
I wonder if the remnant God is gathering right now looks less like a movement and more like scattered rooms—retreat centers and living rooms, houses of prayer and prayer closets—full of people finally still enough to hear Him.
I keep coming back to that tithe. One-tenth of a nation’s life, and Serenity has spent every year of it doing one thing: making space for people to reconnect and realign with the truth of God. Twenty-five years of retreats, prayer sessions, tears at the pond, walking the land, freedom that didn’t show up in a headline but showed up in a marriage, a mother, a father, a mind finally quiet enough to hear its Maker.
If a remnant is what heals a land, I believe Serenity and Transformation Prayer Ministry are positioned for exactly this hour—not just for our nation, but for the nations beyond her, who are watching what America does with what she’s been given. No other nation in history has been used to carry the gospel further or faster than this one. That is not a boast about us. It’s a stewardship placed on us. We have been blessed to be a blessing—that’s true of America, and it has always been true of this ministry.
Which is part of why I’m asking you to pray with us in a very specific way right now.
Serenity’s Board and staff are in the process of discerning our next Executive Director—the one who will carry the mantle into whatever this unprecedented next chapter holds. We don’t know everything that’s ahead for this nation. Only God knows that. We don’t know everything that’s ahead for Serenity either. But we know the same God who has carried us for twenty-five years is the one entrusting this next leader to us, and us to them. Please pray over that process with us. It matters more than most people watching from the outside will ever realize.
So this Fourth of July, as you watch whatever fireworks light up your sky, I hope you’ll do a little math of your own. Count the years you’ve been given. Pause and give thanks to our Savior. Count the years this nation has been given. Pause and thank Him again. And then ask the only question that has ever really mattered:
Lord, what do You require of me, in this hour, on this precipice?
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” —Micah 6:8
We are exceedingly blessed to be a blessing. May we spend the next 250 years—and the next 25—responding rightly to the calling and favor of the Lord.
Happy Independence Day, Family of God. We love you, and we’re praying for you as you pray for us.
My favorite spot in one of my favorite places in the world — Serenity Retreat Bellville — a little slice of heaven right here in Texas.
If it’s been a while since your last Transformation Prayer Ministry session or retreat, perhaps it’s time? Click to schedule your One-Hour Session and inquire about a Respite or Personal Healing Retreat today. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer as we search for our next Executive Director and continue to grow our team in preparation for more.
I’d like to say I found Serenity Retreat but Serenity totally found me.
My first experience with Serenity Retreat came through my amazing friend, Cynthia Wenz. She invited me to play piano and help lead worship for a Table Host event before Serenity’s annual fundraiser. I had originally declined because I was supposed to be on vacation in New Mexico, but my travel plans fell through. At the time, I was deeply disappointed and honestly embarrassed by the circumstances and the reason. Looking back, I can see God was redirecting my steps and I ended up going!
I couldn’t have imagined the Romans 8:28 story He was already writing… on 8/28.
I had no idea what Serenity Retreat was or what Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM) even meant.
That night, I ran into another dear sweet friend, Tiffany Pardue. As she explained TPM, she said something that woke me up.
“It’s a prayer process that honors your emotions. The starting point is simply asking, ‘What are you feeling?’”
Immediately, something inside me responded.
“Oof… this is why you’re here.”
It felt like my body was finally getting an answer to cries for help my mind kept ignoring for years.
As I listened to people’s “ringing the bell” stories, I couldn’t help but wonder if this “effortless transformation” was too good to be true.
Another part of me more loudly thought, “But for real… I NEED this kind of breakthrough.”
Although I’m generally a positive, optimistic person, I was carrying an unbearable emotional load from all the trauma, betrayal and abuse in the last six years. That wasn’t a part of my life prior and I couldn’t stop ruminating on the all daily injustices and offenses that kept piling up. Forgiveness always felt like a shallow work. No matter how hard I kept trying to forgive, it never felt lasting or permanent… I HATED that. Eventually the emotional weight began showing up physically. I had become so accustomed to suppressing my emotions that I didn’t know what to do with them anymore.
Then came TPM.
Over the next few months, I began receiving prayer sessions, joined Serenity’s hospitality team, enrolled in the TPM 201 course, attended my first immersive retreat, and began serving as an intercessor. I just recently finished the 8 week 301 course and training to be a mentor! And I’ve been getting LOTS of breakthrough!! Too much to say.
Somewhere along the way, Serenity stopped feeling like a place I visited.
It became family.
One concept from 201 has stayed with me ever since I heard it: “We perceive what we believe. We feel what we believe. We do what we believe.”
I remember thinking, “Ooooh… we feel what we believe!”
Instead of asking, “How do I stop feeling this?” I began asking, “What am I believing?”
As all of this growth was taking place, I was also navigating a separation that would eventually lead to divorce.
Looking back, I can clearly see God’s kindness.
Before I ever knew how desperately I’d need community, He had already provided it. He had already introduced me to TPM, surrounded me with people who loved Jesus, and began teaching me how to bring my emotions to Him instead of burying them.
I often say God knew I’d be going through a major life surgery, so He prepared everything I’d need ahead of time to stay ahead of the pain.
TPM gave me tools.
Serenity gave me community.
Together, they carried me through one of the hardest seasons of my life.
It took about eight to ten prayer sessions before I really felt the needle begin to move.
One of my greatest breakthroughs came when I realized I hadn’t been honest with myself about where my anger was actually directed (or that I was even angry). Being angry with myself felt much safer than admitting I was angry with God.
Then, during one prayer session, after finally admitting it, I sensed the Lord gently say, “I want an honest relationship with you.”
That changed everything for me. Including my relationships with others.
Instead of striving to fix myself, I learned to slow down, become curious, and ask, “Jesus, what do You want me to know here?”
Again and again, I found Him faithful.
Today, I have the privilege of serving as both an intercessor during TPM sessions and as a Mentor in Training. It is one of the greatest privileges of my life to watch God speak personally to His children.
When I look back over this past year and my involvement with Serenity, the thing that stands out the most is God’s kindness faithfulness to me…
If you’re considering visiting Serenity Retreat or beginning your own journey through Transformation Prayer Ministry, my encouragement is simple: come with an open and honest heart.
The more honest I’ve been about what hurts, the more room I’ve given Jesus to heal and transform me. And I’m happy to report ruminating thoughts are very rare for me now! My heart and mind is a SIGNIFICANTLY more enjoyable place for me, and I legit enjoy the overwhelming majority of my thought life. I’m so full of gratitude for the countless ways this ministry has and continues to bless my life!!
Three Days. Six Workshops. The Place Where It All Finally Clicks. A reflection on the TPM 301 Immersive at Serenity Retreat’s Bellville Center.
Something shifts when you leave the city behind and drive into the quiet of Bellville.
You don’t always know what it is — not yet. But somewhere between the familiar hum of Houston traffic and the stillness of the retreat center, your shoulders drop. Your grip loosens. And you start to wonder if maybe this is exactly where you were supposed to be.
That’s how the TPM 301 Immersive begins. Not with a syllabus or a schedule — though both exist — but with a charcuterie board, an unhurried meal, and the kind of easy conversation that happens when people who love the same things find each other in the same room.
More Than a Course — It’s an Experience
If you’ve already completed the TPM 301 online, you know the framework. You’ve learned the MAP. You understand the boxes. You’ve watched the teaching, taken notes, maybe even practiced a session or two on your own.
The Immersive is something different.
One participant put it this way: “There’s another depth that comes from in-person training that is kind of hard to put into words — but it makes going in person worth it.” That depth is what we’re after. Not just knowing the process, but being inside it — as a student mentor, a student observer, or as a mentee doing the meaningful internal work.
The 301 Immersive is our third of its kind this year — following successful Immersives for TPM 101 and 201 earlier in 2026. What started as an experiment has become a clear pattern: something happens in person that simply can’t be replicated on a screen.
Over three packed days, you’ll move through six workshops and six practice sessions, with meals and margin woven in between. It’s a full immersion in the truest sense — purpose, principles, and process held together in a rhythm that works even better when you’re all in the same space, breathing the same air.
The People in the Room
One of the things that makes the 301 Immersive distinctly Serenity is the coaching team.
Brooke Wallace brings a grounded, well-thought-out teaching style and Keever Wallace leans into interactive teaching, which one participant confessed was “a bit stressful” — and also deeply effective. “Even though it’s a bit more stressful as a participant, it also is very helpful for both focusing and learning.” Carol Schwartz brings the personal touch — teaching from her own story in a way that reminds you this isn’t just methodology, it’s a lived journey.
And together? One participant said simply: “They came together really well. The overall experience works.”
This is equipping, not just instruction. These coaches aren’t walking you through material — they’re walking with you through it and giving you opportunities for application.
What the Practice Sessions Actually Teach You
Here’s what no one tells you before you arrive: the practice sessions might be where the most significant learning happens.
Not because they’re polished — they rarely are. That’s the point. You’ll sit in the mentor seat and feel the weight of following the process in real time. You’ll make a call, get stuck, wonder what box you’re in. And then a coach will pull alongside you — not to take over, but to help you see what you almost missed.
Cheryl described an aha moment that came mid-session when Keever stopped and coached her in real time. “I got a new and important insight regarding solution indicators” — the kind of insight that doesn’t come from a video, no matter how many times you watch it.
Another participant noted something just as instructive: watching other cohorts run their sessions. “I learned a lot — most perhaps — from that.” There’s something irreplaceable about seeing someone else navigate the exact moment you’ve been afraid of.
Margin, Meals, and That Impromptu Worship Moment
Let’s talk about the other part — the part that doesn’t show up on the outline.
One evening, dinner moved outside to the pavilion. Open air, green fields, good food, easy laughter around the table. It’s the kind of meal and setting that also feeds the soul.
The meals throughout the weekend were genuinely good. Tiffany and her team pour themselves into the hospitality, and it shows in every detail — the plentiful snacks, the inviting spaces, the care that makes you feel less like a student and more like a guest. And if your room doesn’t have Wi-Fi? One participant was openly grateful for that.
“Loved the meals and the impromptu worship session,” wrote one participant. “The experience works as it is.”
That spontaneous worship moment — unplanned, unhurried — is a good picture of what happens when you put a group of people together who are seeking the Lord and give them a little breathing room. The schedule is full, yes. But there’s something underneath the schedule that the Spirit tends to fill.
A Word to the Mentor Who’s Been Away
Maybe you completed your TPM training a few years ago and life just happened. Ministry got heavy, or a season came that required a different kind of attention, or you simply needed to step back and let yourself be a recipient for a while.
This part is for you.
The 301 Immersive isn’t a re-certification. It’s a re-immersion. You don’t have to have it all together to come. One participant arrived carrying what she described as significant internal chaos. She said she found everyone “generous to give time to my healing.”
That’s the culture here. You can be a learner and a leader in the same weekend. And sometimes — often, actually — the most important thing that happens in Bellville isn’t what you learn about the process. It’s what the process does in you.
What Happens When You Show Up
Here’s the simplest version of what we can tell you:
Show up. Even if you didn’t get a chance to finish all the precourse work. Even if you feel rusty, uncertain, or like everyone else is further along than you. Show up, participate, and let the process do what it does.
One of our participants completed TPM 201 and 301 last year. She could have kept learning from her living room in California. Instead, she was so intrigued by the great deal that she booked a flight to experience it in person.
“It is worth the time and expense,” Jana said, “because so much more just clicks and falls into place.”
When asked what could be improved for the next immersive, Taylor said, “I honestly can’t think of anything, I had such a great experience. The affordability was key for me. Price point was right sized and very reasonable. I was really moved by the whole weekend. Brooke, Keever, Carol, Barb (and Daniela who led that spontaneous worship moment) all did fantastic. It was very meaningful.”
Three Immersives in. Three times we’ve watched people walk in carrying questions and walk out carrying something they couldn’t have found on a screen. We’re not stopping here.
The next TPM 301 Immersive is coming — July 30–August 1, 2026.
This Immersive is designed for students who have completed prerequisite training. Not sure if you qualify? Reach out — we’d love to help you figure out your next right step. Ready to jump in? Click below.
There are seasons in life when timelines feel clear and expectations feel grounded.
And then there are seasons when what we thought would happen… doesn’t.
Right now, I find myself in one of those places.
At 41 weeks and 5 days pregnant, we are waiting to meet our baby boy!
If you know me, you know we’ve held this reality loosely, understanding that babies can come early or late. We knew this. I’ve prepared for this. I help other moms as a birth doula understand this reality, waiting is part of the process.
But there’s a difference between knowing something in your mind… and living it out in real time.
Because when the due date passes—and then more days continue to pass—something begins to surface. As we wait there can bubble up various feeling and questions.
Questions like: Will this ever happen? Will I ever be on the other side of this? How much longer will this take? When will things finally shift? Will I ever feel relief? Will I ever feel happy again?
or
Maybe it’s: Will I ever get the job I’ve been praying for? Will this ministry ever grow? Will this relationship ever heal? Will this difficult season ever end? Will I ever feel peace again?
Waiting has a way of revealing what is really beneath the surface.
Waiting Is a Physical Picture of a Spiritual Reality
One of the things the Lord has been showing me is how pregnancy and birth are such a powerful physical representation of spiritual waiting.
When you are pregnant, there is already life forming within you, even before you fully see it.
There is anticipation. Preparation. Expectation.
You make room in your home. You prepare your heart. You speak about what is coming long before it arrives.
Spiritually, many of us are living in similar places.
We are carrying prayers. Longings. Callings. Dreams. Promises we believe God has spoken.
Yet there is often a space between what we believe God has promised and when we see fulfillment.
A space where something is still being formed.
And just like pregnancy, spiritual waiting can feel beautiful one moment and stretching the next.
Moments of excitement. Moments of exhaustion. Moments filled with faith. Moments where disappointment tries to or does creep in.
But just because we cannot yet see fulfillment does not mean God is absent from the process.
Something is still growing.
Something is still being prepared.
We Wait with Anticipation, Not Worry
Waiting invites us to choose what posture we will hold while we wait. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like we have a choice though and we easily slip into something that’s worrisome.
It is so easy to wait in our flesh.
To expect certain outcomes. To analyze every detail. To try to mentally solve what only God fully sees.
The world often teaches us to wait with anxiety: Trying to control outcomes. Trying to force something forward. Trying to figure out every nuance.
After all, our hearts often think: If I can just understand it enough, maybe I can control it.
We search for answers everywhere. We overthink. We replay conversations. We try to predict outcomes.
Sometimes we even look to other voices to counsel us before first bringing our hearts before the Wonderful Counselor—the Holy Spirit within us—and the truth of Scripture that grounds us in Perfect Truth!
But Scripture invites us into a way of waiting that is completely opposite of the world.
We wait with anticipation, not worry. With surrender, not control. With trust, not the pressure to figure everything out.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” — Psalm 27:14
Anticipation says: God is moving even when I cannot yet see it.
Worry tries to carry tomorrow before it arrives.
And Scripture reminds us: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” — Matthew 6:34
We are also reminded: “His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:22–23
Anticipation trusts that God already holds tomorrow in His hands.
We do not have to figure everything out.
Even though our hearts often want to.
We Wait with Hope, Not Despair
There can be moments in waiting where disappointment tries to creep in, especially when timelines stretch longer than expected!
I’ve experienced that personally in these final weeks of pregnancy.
Every sign that labor might be beginning can quickly turn into another day of waiting.
And in those moments, I’ve had to continually bring my heart back before the Lord.
Because despair says: Nothing will ever change.
But hope says: God is still faithful in the process.
Biblical hope is not wishful thinking.
It is confident expectation rooted in the character of God.
And just like in this current season of pregnancy, I know I will not be pregnant forever.
There is an appointed time for us to meet our baby boy.
In the same way, God sees the fullness of the timeline we cannot yet see in our everyday waiting for what we long for.
We Wait with Joy, Not Striving
One of the greatest temptations in waiting is striving.
Trying harder. Pushing more. Forcing outcomes that only God can fully bring forth in His timing.
And often, as soon as we start hearing: I have to… I need to… If I don’t make this happen then…
Those are indicators that we need to bring our beliefs back before the Lord and receive His perspective.
That is one of the reasons Serenity Retreat exists: To create space for God to speak into those deeper places.
This is also what is humbling about pregnancy…
At a certain point, there is very little you can do except trust the process.
You cannot force life to mature before its appointed time.
Spiritually, many things in our lives are the same way.
Some seasons of life require surrender not striving.
Joy in waiting does not mean every moment feels easy.
It does not mean happiness is always the immediate destination.
It means we trust that God is present in the process of our character refinement.
It means we learn to recognize that even here— in the trial, in the painful moments, before the breakthrough, before fulfillment, before answers come, before the season changes—
God is still good.
And that is a truth we can always count on. And even if you don’t believe that God is good, He can still speak to you about that very doubt, if you’re willing to listen.
When God Reshapes What We Long For
This past week, I stepped into a couple of Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM) sessions for myself, inviting the Lord into the deeper places this waiting was exposing in my own heart. The Lord allowed me to experience His truth and my anxious or burdened heart turned into a restful heart.
And I was reminded that sometimes there are prayers we pray that God does fulfill exactly as we hoped.
And there are other times when He lovingly reshapes something within us.
Because sometimes what we long for may not yet be fully aligned with His purposes, His will, or the deeper character formation He is accomplishing within us.
God is not withholding from us when things feel delayed.
He is often aligning us more deeply with His heart, His timing, and His purposes.
An Invitation for You
If you find yourself in a season where something feels delayed—where hope feels stretched or questions feel louder than answers—you are not alone.
And more importantly, you are not abandoned in the waiting.
Because the things that surface while we wait—the fear, disappointment, striving, anxiety, discouragement, or loss of hope—are often the very places God wants to meet us most deeply.
At Serenity Retreat, this is what we make space for.
A space to slow down. To process what is beneath the surface. To invite God to speak truth to the root of what is happening in your heart as you wait.
Whether through a Transformation Prayer Ministry session or one of our Retreat experiences, there is an invitation to stop carrying everything alone and allow the Lord to minister directly to those deeper places within you.
So if you are in a season of waiting, perhaps the invitation is not simply to endure it—
But to encounter God within it.
To wait with anticipation, not worry. With hope, not despair. With joy, not striving.
Because waiting, in the hands of God, is never wasted.
He is still present. Still speaking. Still faithful. And still forming something eternal within you.
Raising Truth Seekers is here — and the story of how it arrived is very on-brand.
On April 29, around 4pm, I checked my email and saw the notification I’d been waiting for: the books had arrived. I ran to the door, ripped open the top box, and held in my hands what had been ten years in the making — Raising Truth Seekers.
All I could do was cry. Every early morning and late night had been worth it. I started leafing through the pages… and froze.
No. It can’t be.
Every right-hand page read: Raising Truth Seekers Copy.
I had forgotten to remove the word “Copy” from the title in Atticus before uploading the file to Amazon’s KDP. The joyful tears were immediately replaced with embarrassment and shame. My thoughts started to spiral: I can’t sell these books. What will everyone think of me? I’ll be a laughing stock. I’m just not even going to go to the conference.
I sat in my pity party, texting my good friend about the terrible mistake I had made. He tried to make me feel better, but I was pretty inconsolable.
I noticed how late it was, so I jumped in my car to get to FedEx before they closed to pick up the poster for my book table. At least that should look good. Ugh. The font was way too small. I couldn’t even deal with it, so I headed through traffic to make a stop at Kroger before going home to continue the pity party. And what every proper pity party needs is a full jar of almond butter — my “crack.” (You can read more about that in Chapter 13.)
I knew what I needed to do…yet, I did not want to do it.
I wanted to stay mad at myself. Somewhere on the Grand Parkway, almond butter as my destination, the intensity of what I was feeling became impossible to ignore. So, reluctantly, I walked myself through the prayer process I’ve been using for the last dozen years.
What I found surprised me. The frustration wasn’t just about the mistake. It was doing double duty — keeping me from something much more uncomfortable underneath: embarrassment and shame, and the question of why I was feeling it so intensely.
I asked God what He wanted me to know. And He showed up.
He gently pointed out that my frustration wasn’t going to accomplish what I thought it would. And then He said something that stopped me cold: He had allowed this for His purposes.
That got my attention. That’s when the idea came — to share this story with the readers. But I knew there was more. I just wasn’t ready to look at it yet.
I laid in bed that night, certain that sleep wouldn’t come until I got to the bottom of this, so I faced it. I sat with the embarrassment and shame and let myself feel the weight of the words that had swirled in my head earlier: What will everyone think of me? I was almost embarrassed that I was still having those kinds of thoughts after all these years of starting to understand the New Covenant and walking in His finished work.
As I stayed with what I was feeling, I landed in a memory from high school. The details matter less than the words I heard that impacted me: What will the neighbors think? There it was — the same emotion. Shame. A familiar question with a familiar companion.
Then I found myself in another memory, a moment after I was married where I felt that same familiar shame. As I sat with those emotions, something became clear: a lie I had been carrying at the heart level: I don’t measure up. I can’t hit the mark.
I offered that belief to the Lord. He wasted no time.
He reminded me that His opinion is the only one that matters — and that He sees me as a 10 out of 10. When I checked that belief again, it no longer felt true. The Holy Spirit had persuaded my heart of what my head had known for years. For the first time, they were saying the same thing.
This is my way of life now. Sometimes, like this week, it takes me longer to be willing to look at my own stuff. But other times I can recognize it quickly and find myself actually grateful for the trials God allows. Because they keep leading me back to Him.
Oh, and the almond butter? I stood in that Kroger aisle staring at the very jar I’d been so compelled to buy. I could have put it in my cart with zero condemnation. Instead, I paused. Did I still feel compelled? No. I didn’t even want it anymore. And I walked away.
It really is true: it’s not what you do, but why you do it.
The corrected file was uploaded to KDP the next morning. And those books I thought I couldn’t sell? Each one went out with a testimony card tucked inside — a story that wouldn’t exist without the mistake. God really does waste nothing.
And that, friend, is exactly what this book is about.
I want to be honest with you: I did not raise my children using TPM. Raising Truth Seekers is the book I wish I had had. It’s the vision I received over a decade ago — that parents could have a tool to help their children get to the root of what’s happening on the inside, not just manage behavior from the outside. That they grow up knowing when and how to run to Jesus for His truth and perspective.
That vision is now a book. And the story of how it arrived — “Copy” and all — is just one more proof that this message is bigger than my ability to mess it up.
None of this would exist without the extraordinary generosity of the Serenity Retreat Board, whose support made it possible to gift a pre-release edition to participants at our Ring the Bell Fundraising Event on October 3 — the same evening we celebrated Serenity Retreat’s 25th Anniversary. And what a gift it was to watch the completed edition make its official debut at Convention 220 on May 1.
If you know a parent, a grandparent, a ministry leader, or a small group who needs this message — please pass it along. Every share helps it find the people it was written for.
Paperback · Family Faith Press · ISBN 9798255539055
Thank you for being part of this story. No matter if you have prayed for me, given me encouragement, offered me the privilege to mentor you in a session, teach you in a course, or if you have shared your testimony, God has used it all to form this book in me.
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24
In the dark days of marriage, abuse, divorce, and motherhood through it all, I can now see that even when I felt completely alone, God was moving — putting people, resources, and invitations in my path. This is an excerpt from my life’s story, one in which Serenity Retreat has provided hope and a safe place to heal for me and for my most cherished gift — my daughter.
A Dear Friend, Stephen Ministry, and Serenity Retreat
In the last months of 2024, God sent me a new friend, Ava Foster, a lifelong Episcopalian, who became a lifeline. She listened, believed me and in me, and served as my Stephen Minister — a trained lay caregiver who walked beside me through my pain and acrimonious divorce. She sat with me, prayed with me, and gently reminded me that God’s heart was for my freedom, not my bondage. Through Ava, God gently and persistently called me to come into the light. It was she who opened the door to Serenity Retreat and to Transformation Prayer Ministry (TPM).
“For at one time you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8
Serenity Retreat Bellville is a place set apart — quiet, beautiful, and saturated with prayer and the grace and glory of God and His son, Jesus Christ. It is a place where God speaks and transforms through TPM. TPM is Serenity’s gentle, Spirit-led process that helps uncover the lies we come to believe and hold about ourselves, others, and God, and invites Jesus to speak His truth into those very places.
As I began TPM, God’s light started to shine into places I had kept in shadow for years. Bit by bit, the fog lifted, truth was revealed, and clarity grew. What I had been living through was not “normal conflict”; it was calculated and deeply harmful—and God’s heart was not in it.
Even after my first experience with TPM, which was at The Preserve, Serenity’s Houston location, I knew something profound had shifted. I heard God’s truth and felt the power of His love and light in a way I had not in years, so I went back a second time.
I shared with Barbara Rolen, Program Director of Serenity Retreat, how I felt transformed by hearing God’s truth and feeling His love. I thirsted to learn more. She told stories of people of all ages—including teens—who had experienced the healing work of TPM. In that moment, I then knew Serenity Retreat was not just for me. It was also for my daughter, Wren.
A Mother–Daughter Retreat
“Mothers pass down faith, strength, and love.” (2 Timothy 1:5)
As a deeply spiritual mother, one of my deepest wounds was seeing someone diminish God and His glory in my child’s eyes.
I wanted her to experience something completely different: a place where God’s presence felt gentle and safe, where questions were welcome, where tears were honored, and where truth and faith did not come with fear of punishment or manipulation.
So I invited Wren to come with me to Serenity Retreat Bellville. Like many teenage girls, she gave me a bit of an eye roll and wasn’t thrilled about being away from friends and missing dance, but after thinking it over, she agreed.
At Serenity Retreat, I stepped back, focused on my own healing and relationship with God, and gave her space to have her personal experience. Just being there — in the natural beauty of the property, the thoughtful spaces, and the presence of warm, Godly people, there seemed to be an instant sense of peace about her. A peace and perhaps serenity, that I had not seen in years.
In the stillness of that private place, during TPM, she had space to be her authentic, vulnerable, whole self. She could bring her fears, hurt, confusion, and questions — everything she carried on her heart — to the Lord. She didn’t have to perform or be “the kid in the middle.” She was allowed, and in fact encouraged, to be simply Wren, deeply loved by God through and through.
True to her nature, afterwards, she didn’t share in detail with me, but I could easily see that God was whispering His truth into her heart. I imagined His words:
You are not the problem…
You are not too much…
You are enough and perfect as you are…
I, your Father, am not like the version of Me you’ve been shown — I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. (Matthew 11:29)
As a Christian mother, there is nothing more sacred than watching your child encounter the true Jesus — the One who protects, heals, and restores — who never condemns and controls.
This is where — in this still, divine, appropriately-named place — God whispered His truth into both of our souls. As His daughter, and especially as a mother, I am deeply grateful for the sanctuary we have found in Serenity Retreat.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
To every woman and mother who needs encouraged today — He is faithful. If you need space and a place to connect with Him — consider Serenity. May God bless you and your precious children.
Happy Mother’s Day!
A Mother’s Day Blessing
To every woman who has ever mothered a child, a friend, a dream, or a hurting heart, including her own,
To the mothers who are joyful and the mothers who are exhausted,
To grandmothers, spiritual mothers, stepmothers, foster and adoptive mothers,
To the women who long to be mothers, and the women who have lost children,
To the women quietly holding families together in the shadows of confusion, conflict, or hidden abuse.
May you hear this: God see you. God hears you. God values and loves you.
