One thing I love about living in a home that is surrounded by woods is that there is a wonderful quiet that blankets us just about all the time. In the distance we can sometimes hear on the nearby country road the early morning traffic, but mostly there is a delicate silence.
As an extroverted introvert, I find that I need the quiet to refresh and refuel. I don’t crave it all the time, because I love being with people and will often seek other’s company. But when I begin to sense an encroaching loneliness—even when I’m with loved ones—that’s when I need to be surrounded with solitude, so I can listen. Not to my own thoughts (that usually lands me in a heap of trouble), but to the Lord’s.
His voice is not one that I hear with my ears, but is deep within my heart. It is “a knowing.” His Presence and peace quiet me. Taking my eyes off of all that is an endless swirl, as if holding my face, He turns me to look at Him.
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That is what happened with the disciples when the storm came up as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). Fearing for their lives, they woke Jesus who was asleep in the stern of the boat asking, Don’t You care that we are about to die? Jesus’ response, Where is your faith?
We’re no different than those twelve men. When our lives come crashing down around us isn’t that the cry of our hearts? Where are You, Lord? Do You see what is happening? And then, as we grow even more afraid, Why are you allowing this Lord? Don’t You love me?
My walk with the Lord has not always been pretty. Becoming a Christian when I was fifteen, I slowly began to drift away. By the time I was eighteen, I was unrecognizable as a Christ follower. When the Lord finally awakened me to how far I was from Him, He had to do a great deal of foot scrubbing—not just foot washing but almost scourging—because of the sin I had allowed back into my heart. It was painful. And terrifying. There were times I thought I was not only losing my Christianity, but also my mind. My faith and my personal life were falling down around me. Everything was being stripped away.
It definitely didn’t feel good. But God, in His tough love, allowed every bit of it. Not to destroy, but to cause me to seek Him.
Whatever is encircling you today may not be from how you have lived or the choices you have made. But just as the Lord has shaken those through the ages who have followed Him—Job, Joseph, the Disciples, Nicodemus, and many others—He shakes us. (See Job 38-42, Genesis 30-47, Mark 4:35-41, John 3, Hebrews 12:1.) What is left to cling to, is only the Lord. The questions may begin with a Why, but if we let them they will eventually lead to the truth that God is God, and we are not. (See Job 42:5-6.)
So what begs for an answer is, Are we really listening to the Lord? Do we get alone with Him and let Him lead us through His Word as His Holy Spirit brings it home to whatever we are facing? If we submit to Him, the Lord will produce the fruit of peace in the midst of our chaos and will transform our hearts to trust in Him, no matter what comes our way.
With love,
Kimberly
You speak to my heart, Kimmie! Thank you!