Be Still… but Don’t Fall Asleep!

This year (literally since January) I have been in a season of trying to be more intentional about being still before God. I had been very busy with a lot of things and honestly felt like I was just being busy for the Lord. While the things that I was doing were good things.. things I enjoyed and things that I felt that God had gifted me to do.. listening and being intentional were really not a part of what I was doing.

So I prayed and asked God what being still might look like and I felt very strongly that it involved:

1.  my physical body being at home a little more. This even meant from church activities. Now don’t get me wrong! I LOVE being at church and I know that you can’t be fully fed without the Body of Christ, hearing God’s Word proclaimed and worship. I just have not been there every single time the doors are open.

2.  me journaling my prayers more so that I really thought things through as I communicated with my Father, and being specific about praying through some thing that I feel He’s putting on my heart.

3.  me reading through the Bible this year with my church family.

4. being more quiet and LISTENING! (Imagine that!)

So to keep it real… here’s what’s happened. While all of those are definitely things that I’ve needed  (especially being a little less on the go)..  and have honestly helped me not to feel so overwhelmed in life it can also be a little… shall we say… easy to let things get a little lax!

While I have kept up with my reading (and I love it!) and I have been more intentional about journaling my prayers and trying to go to the Lord FIRST when my heart hurts or I’m struggling, and we’ve continued to teach our young married adult Sunday school class  … it sometimes gets easy to get out of the routine of being at church and being AT church brings accountability!

Before you get ALL excited and wonder what in the WORLD I’ve done… “oh! She hasn’t had accountability!? This is getting juicy!” Just hang on a second, sister! It’s not that I’ve changed my behavior or that anything drastic has happened. (Maybe I NEED to change my behavior!) It’s just that when we are not with God’s people and under his Word being preached on a regular basis you find yourself not feeling as close to the Lord as maybe you once were.

Now, I KNOW that my walk with Christ is completely based on faith and not a feeling! I do know! However, there are times when we sense His presence more than others and this has been one of the times that my sensing Him has waxed and waned.

Yes, this can happen when I am in church every time the doors open, too! Yes, it can happen whether I am there or on the mission field or at home. I am just saying that when we are still before the Lord we need to be extremely careful that we keep our eyes on Him and that His Name is still the one that we proclaim no matter where we are! We have to be so careful to not be so still that we fall asleep!

Our Pastor has said several times, “Don’t waste the waiting!” And that is so true! While we wait on God to answer our prayers we also have to use the waiting to pray, seek the Lord, love on others and be His hands and feet where we are. It’s not that being still is a bad thing at all! It’s just that we can’t be so still that we are of no use to Him or His kingdom!