Why is wilderness so transformational? Jesus shows us a pattern of retreating to the peaceful and solitary places, restoring His identity with the Father, and then returning to the people to revive others. This is a wonderful balance of rest and work, being poured into and being poured out, identity and sacrifice. In this post, we will explore the retreat-restore-revive pattern. As biblical understanding and theology drive each other, both will overlap throughout the pattern of retreat-restore-revive. We will look at some historical and contemporary approaches to retreat-restore-revive within wilderness experiences, and finally we will examine the question: does it have to be wilderness?