This week has been a bit of a rough one. Health issues make it necessary for me to lie down to rest a lot, or at the very least, be still and not push the activity for awhile. To say that this is a struggle for this gal who is used to being a human "doing" vs. a human "being" is an understatement.
I do believe that God has allowed these physical infirmities into my life in order to teach me some invaluable lessons. Lessons such as:
God is good all of the time. All of the time, God is good. Amen.
God is love and you can trust Love's heart. He is faithful.
God loves me. God loves YOU!
God doesn't love only when you are serving on the church committee, or when you are striving, earning, performing, and doing other righteous acts in order to try to get His attention and His love. He loves you when you are simply doing nothing....when you are just sitting.
I've spent a lot of time in my favorite chair in my house, clutching a hot cup of coffee or tea, and gazing out the window at my bird feeder and my porch. I found myself laughing and delighting in the antics of the birds at the feeder and watching the squirrel, simultaneously go about his digging the dirt out of my pots. Pesky things that they are. They sometimes make me question God's creation lol.
I was filled with a sense of love, care, and delight. And, you know what? They weren't doing anything special....just eating and digging. But I felt God's love settle around me like a warm blanket. I felt His loving presence. I heard Him whisper, "Do you know how much you are loved...just sitting here watching the birds and the squirrels...drinking your tea...and simply being?
Have you ever just let yourself be loved?
Have you ever just sat in stillness long enough to hear Him whisper, "I love you...you are loved...just as you are...doing nothing...right in this moment...because you are mine."
17The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
I've read this verse many times, but I always pictured myself doing something when the Lord was rejoicing over me. I certainly wasn't just sitting still, sipping tea, and watching the animals. Catch the part where He says, "He will quiet you with His love." He quiets or stills you first and then He rejoices over you with singing. Hmmm.....
God's love is not conditional upon us doing something in order to be loved. Have you ever just let yourself be loved, simply for just being you?
Be still...hear His still small voice. I love you _________ because I made you. I love you in your stillness - even when you are doing absolutely nothing to try to make me love you...even when you are curled up in the fetal position crying....even when you sit feeling all alone. His voice comes, "I love you...I just do."
Another component of my health issues is that I must rest and sleep a lot. Have you ever just let yourself be loved when you lay your head down to rest??
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14
Believe it or not, the Lord delights over us when we are resting. Resting is part of the original rhythms that God created. To not rest is to go against His ordained outline for living.
What comfort and joy to think that the very presence of God is there when we are resting. I like to picture Jesus sitting at the side of my bed, gently stroking my hair and saying, "Rest, Bev and know that I love you."
Have you ever just let yourself lie down and rest and know that you are loved
Do you know that He delights over you with singing when you are resting and closing your eyes to sleep?
Hear Him sing softly, "Be still, rest, sleep, and know that you are loved....Oh how I love you."
My word for 2019 is "Rest". I plan to write more on this subject, but I am practicing the discipline of rest this year and I am already learning that God's love is right there with me in the resting. My resting, your resting, makes Him glad.
After all, what did God do after He did all of His creating....He sat back and rested and then said, "It is good." He included the "resting" in with the "good". Let's not skip the resting part of "good". And in it may we know, without a doubt, that we are loved in our being still, in our doing nothing, in our lying down, in our resting, in our sleeping.
Have you ever just let yourself be loved? Be still He loves you...He really does!
Dear Heavenly Father, I praise you that you created me and that you love me simply because you made me. You didn't need me, but you made me because you wanted to have a relationship with me. Enable me to be still, rest, sleep and let myself be loved by You. Reassure me of your presence and let me believe your Truth that says you delight over me with singing. Thank you God for being good all of the time. Thank you for always being faithful. Thank you that no matter what I do, your love for me never changes. Let me let myself be loved by You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
What about you? Do you have a hard time accepting that you are loved? When is the last time you were still, rested, and let yourself be loved by God? How can you let Him quiet you so that He might rejoice over you with singing? How can you practice the discipline of rest this week?
Be blessed.....
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