The Waiting...

I'm at a season in my life where God has been teaching me to wait on Him. The verse that he has seemed to brand this season with is "Be still and know that I am God". Since he has been bringing it to my mind over and over again, I have been really chewing on it. What does it REALLY mean? I want to read the simplicity of the verse, as well as, what it is saying behind the lines...

"Be Still"
This is not just sitting back, doing nothing... you are not bound and helpless. To "be still" means that as you actively live your life, eyes on Jesus, no matter what the situation is around you, you can rest. Not just a "oh Lord I have peace", but such a deep peace that it permiates to the very bone. Kind of like when you are about to go "under" for surgery and they give you medicine to make you sleep. Within a few minutes every muscle in your body is relaxed, you dont want to move and there is not a care in the world. That kind of "be still".

"And Know"
Though it is important to 'know' God is in control, it is not limited to just the head knowledge of it. It's the type of 'know' that is ingrained in every fiber of your being. It's a trust...putting all your 'eggs in his basket' with the knowing that He is a good God, He loves us, and He has great things for us. There is no "Plan B", just His plan. A KNOWING that comes only by spending time with Him...who He is.

"That I AM GOD"
Knowing just His name or title isnt what He is saying. It's KNOWING Him, His heart, and His character. Knowing that He is God, the Great I AM....all of who He is, what He is able and willing to do. There is a quote that I heard from Mike McGee...it's actually what God told him in his quiet time:
"If you really knew me, then you would know how small you were. If you knew how small you were, then you would know how big I am. If you knew how small you are and how big I am, then you would know that there is nothing impossible for me."

"Be still and know that I am God" = Trust me

Quotes...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."- Mark Twain

"To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways; we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation."- Oswald Chambers

"We try to be too reasonable about what we believe. What I believe is not reasonable at all. In fact, it's hilariously impossible. Possible things aren't worth much. These crazy impossible things keep us going."- Madeleine L'Engle

Come Away With Me...

I took a walk tonight after class to be alone with God. The sky is black with only a few specks of twinkling light. The tree's weathered features, shown by the lamp light. The sleeping leaves, rustled by the cool breeze that nips at my cheeks. It's just me, the sound of my feet on the pavement, and the God that my heart is longing for. There seems as though there is not enough time in the world to soak in all of this beautiful creation, each precious, intricate detail. Every time I get alone with God in His creation, I always seem to hear Him say, "Do you like it, Holly? I made it for you." How can I not love my God? How can I not feel worth, when the Creator of all things offers me His best? Me, of all people! With all my mistakes and failures, yet His faithful love...it's more than I can comprehend.

What does it take?

What did it take to have a faith that pleased God? What did it take to solidify his faith in the one, True God? Had he seen many miracles to convince him? Was Abraham's faith built soley on the works of God's hands or of the Words He spoke? How was his faith in God so strong that when after finally receiving the promised son, he would sacrafice the very thing he desired from the beginning?This desire must have burned so deep in Abraham; a son, the sign of a heritage, the blessing of God. The thought, the desire, flooding his mind as he quietly led his flocks and worked in the day. The emotion and hope running high after making love to his wife and thinking that "maybe this time we will have a son". Hope crushed after Sarah's cycle began, proving the subtle doubt that crept in with the first sign of hope. How, when God promised Abraham and Sarah the fulfillment of their deepest desire, did they believe Him? After so many years of trying. After so many years of hope crushed. How did they hold onto what He said? When all the odds stacked up high against the very promise of God, how did they believe Him enough to have a faith that pleased God? Sarah is past child barring years, Abraham is as good as dead, and then, at that moment, they conceive. When every logical, even just plain reality, set in saying "Give up, move on. It's too late"....how? How did they still believe?God promised and fulfilled the deepest desire of their hearts, then He asks them to give Him Isaac, their son. Their only son. Is this where the whole "He gives and takes away" thing comes into play? Or was it that once their son was born, he started taking the place of the One who gave him life. "Isaac worship"? Could it have been that he started becoming an idol in Abraham's life and God would have none of that? Yet, when faced with a decision to obey God or not, Abraham obeyed. The decision must have gutted him alive.How, when the Bible says that Abraham believed God would provide in Isaacs place, did he not stop and question God. "What the heck?!" would have been my words.Abraham had a faith that pleased God, and rightly so. I want a faith like that. That when all the odds are against the very Words He spoke to me, when it seems too late, when He asks for it back, when I dont understand...that I would trust in the I AM and please Him with my faith. "I dont know what you are doing, and yes, it hurts my heart, but I will trust in you."