Be Fearless, Be Confident, Be Still
God's got a funny sense of humor.
A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in front of my computer and I was compiling a list of all the stuff I needed to get done, one of them being going through my daily devotionals. As I'm reading along, I find that my mind starts to wander to the rest of the things I need to do for the day, making it hard to focus. Finally, I tell myself, "Get this done now so you can move on to the next thing!". So I buckle down and start the first devotional. It talks about God leading us to quiet waters and allows us to really be still in the moment, away from the world's clanging and busyness. As I read this, I'm still thinking of the laundry I have to put in the dryer and the blog post I have to write for the day. The second devotional is about the story of Martha and Mary, with Martha being the kitchen all stressed out trying to prepare her home for Jesus' arrival and Mary sitting at Jesus' feet and spending time with him. Mary is with Jesus, in awe, present and still. There's that word again: STILL. I start to see a pattern and say to God outloud, "If you're trying to tell me to keep still, I will listen, but only if I see another sign.
At this point, I've finished my devotionals, but there's something in my heart lingering, telling me to spend more time with God. I find myself scrolling through Facebook, when out of no where, I see a video with the words, "Be fearless, be confident and be...SILENT?". This time my mind becomes silent and the list I had in head is gone. I watch the video play as a Pastor talks about the story of Moses and how he leads the Israelites in Egypt. It comes to the point where the Israelites are met with the Red Sea and have no where to run as the Egyptian army comes closer and closer. Moses hears God's command and moves his staff, parting the Red Sea and allowing the Israelites to walk across to escape their demise from the army. The pastor goes on to say that God commanded the Israelites to be confident, be fearless, and to be silent & still as he works to help them.
I guess when you ask God for a sign, he really delivers, huh?
I took that moment to really sit still and calm my mind. I've been so caught up in doing this or that, that I almost missed the signs of God was wanting me to have a quiet moment and spend it with him. Having this intimate moment with God and just leaning into him when my mind is racing gives me the everlasting peace I need. It won't matter how much stuff I accomplish today or how much left I still have to do; I can't let a fear of not accomplishing enough get in the way of how much I see God wants to spend time with me. What matters most is that I recognize that God's hand is in everything and to make him a priority above all things. I need to calm my mind and be still, knowing that my time with him is a vital part of my day in order to really feel his true presence in my life.
Want to know the cherry on top of this story? So I attend a program at my church called Celebrate Recovery and I was sharing about my recent experience of being still. After I finish telling my story, one of the girls in the group tells me, "Graciella, look at my shirt!" I look at it and it says, "Be still".
Xo