by Tiffany Pardue, Retreats Director

250 years since Independence Hall. 250 candles on a cake none of us were there to watch 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 much 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.

What is ahead for America? Again, only God knows.

What is ahead for Serenity? We are in the midst of discovering that week by week, confident that He who began the good work will carry it on to completion in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, all I can tell you is what I told you back in February when I was wrestling with the Serenity Prayer and its centennial: we cannot quiet the nations, the news, or the naysayers. We can only quiet our souls, humble ourselves, and let Him do what only He can do.

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.

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.