His voice was clear and His affections permeated the very air that surrounded me as if a hug from Heaven was giving witness to the spoken words.
"Cease striving and know that I am God."
There is a quietness and confidence that is birthed .. Isaiah 30:15 has been a life verse for a long time now.. but it explodes upon my heart in new and deeper ways.
I am trying to unlock for myself what this all looks like amidst being a woman, a wife, a mom.. making a living, stepping into ministry, living in the world.... What? What can this look like? What does it mean to fully cease striving? What does it mean to know God?
One component I am adhering to these days is the NO FEAR policy... To know God means that the angel arrives and says, "Be not afraid!" That God speaks and says, "I tell you the truth." It isn't that we don't see the fear or experience it, it means that it doesn't get the final say...
How? How does the reality of Heaven actually in reality permeate every fabric of my being as I walk out my days upon the earth? How does the reality of Heaven whisper or roar into my days? How does it govern my life? How does it rule my thoughts?
What does ceasing striving look like? What does it mean to truly KNOW God?
I hold my daughter, Elizabeth's hand, I feel it in the palm of mine, I touch her... she giggles and I hear it.. she cuddles I feel it... she sleeps I watch.... when I hold her close and her head gets cocked up into the side of my neck I smell her toddler body... the sweat and joy of play, the dirt of the fort, the fresh air.. all swirl around her and I am blessed to be her mom... I interact with her daily, because to not do so would be sad.
Without religion, without compulsion, without duty, without shoulds, without lists..... What does it look like to know Him.. to walk with Him.. to cease striving and just to know Him....
These days must be full of the reality that is Him... He must go before me.. He must surround me... He does... He does.. scripturally we watch as His lovingkindness goes before us, crowns us, is our rear guard... We are never without Him.... He never leaves nor forsakes.. BUT what does that look like? AND how should that REALITY alter the course of our daily living?
With a whisper and a shout... We are under girded and overshadowed by the Lord Most High.. in its simplest and most profound reality... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Not striving here... entering into a rest.. a place of trust... looking upward and around me and seeing Him in everything..... As I take Elizabeth's hand and relish in relationship with her... so do I use it as a picture of me being His girl.... and in that place is a land of hopscotch and skip to my lou..... what that means when it is done not with a toddler but with the Creator of all things.. I am finding out... daily discovering the joys of being a daughter of the Lord Most High....
I'm more convinced that the way to "KNOW" Him is to enter in as a child... and then Elizabeth and Gregory and Rebekah and Gideon and Caspian and Joshua become my pictures... how does a preschooler, an elementary aged child, a middle schooler, a high schooler and an adult child come into relationship with a parent... Walking together.. walking with Him... walking and trusting and ceasing striving BUT diving into the knowing....
Living Loved... Living Life... Living Hope... Resurrection life... hope... joy.. faith.... LIFE... What Really Matters? YOU... YouMatter.......
No comments:
Post a Comment