A Quiet Resolution....
Happy New Year, sweet SHINE sisters!
Gosh, I miss y'all.
Today, especially, I miss you.
On this day, two years ago, SHINE girls began. Little did I know what the Lord had in store for this ministry. Goodness gracious,
I think we have all grown leaps and bounds. Reading His Word tends to do that.
The Lord has had me in a really weird place for the last few months. It all began when I stopped posting on this site. I knew it was what He was asking me to do, and it was hard to understand why.
Three months down the road, I have more clarity.
A rest was in order.
Even "good" things need a resting period.
I'm not good at resting. Just ask my mom.
I don't do naps. Yuck. Ever.
I don't like to sit and just "rest".
It bores me.
Oh, but when the Lord says "rest", He means it.
When we rest in Him, we stop long enough to hear Him even more clearly. We hear things we often cannot hear because of the noise of not resting.
Just recently, I was asking {more like begging} for God to give me clarity on something.
I begged, groveled, and begged some more.
I was searching every scripture, every conversation, everything I could get my dry and chapped little hands on. Nothing was speaking to me. Nothing was clear.
"Lord, where are YOU??"" I asked Him one day in the car, tears streaming down my face.
I heard Him speak in my spirit, "I am the Quiet One, Jill. The soft whisper. You won't find me in the loud. You will find me in the quiet."
My heart had been loud. Anything but quiet. In my frantic search for Him, I had lost Him because I was speaking over Him. Yelling over Him, to be honest.
I was so desperate, that somewhere, somehow, I had muted His Voice in my Spirit. Oh, His Voice was there all along, but in my loud, unbelieving, untrusting little heart, I had lost the ability to hear Him.
Since that day, I have committed to quiet my heart. When my heart is quiet, He speaks. Not only does He speak, but I begin to hear Him speaking.
What does a quiet heart look like?
It's being submissive to Him. It's honoring Him. It's trusting Him. It's not planning the what-if-God-doesn't-come-through scenarios. It's saying, "Your will be done, Father. Not my will."
Oh the irony of a New Year's Day post about resting and being quiet.
The world is telling us to "make plans!", "change your life!", "new year, new you!".
Although those things are fabulous, remember where our Father is found...in the still small voice. In the whisper.
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:11-15
God was not in the loud wind, not in the earthquake, not in the raging fire....
He was in the gentle whisper.
turning up the quiet,
jill
Still want to read along with us? Go to:
http://eastridgefamily.org/files/Reading%20Plan/Three%20Year%20Bible%20Reading%20Plan_1.pdf
You can download the plan there. We are on Year Two of this plan. It begins in 1 John.
Gosh, I miss y'all.
Today, especially, I miss you.
On this day, two years ago, SHINE girls began. Little did I know what the Lord had in store for this ministry. Goodness gracious,
I think we have all grown leaps and bounds. Reading His Word tends to do that.
The Lord has had me in a really weird place for the last few months. It all began when I stopped posting on this site. I knew it was what He was asking me to do, and it was hard to understand why.
Three months down the road, I have more clarity.
A rest was in order.
Even "good" things need a resting period.
I'm not good at resting. Just ask my mom.
I don't do naps. Yuck. Ever.
I don't like to sit and just "rest".
It bores me.
Oh, but when the Lord says "rest", He means it.
When we rest in Him, we stop long enough to hear Him even more clearly. We hear things we often cannot hear because of the noise of not resting.
Just recently, I was asking {more like begging} for God to give me clarity on something.
I begged, groveled, and begged some more.
I was searching every scripture, every conversation, everything I could get my dry and chapped little hands on. Nothing was speaking to me. Nothing was clear.
"Lord, where are YOU??"" I asked Him one day in the car, tears streaming down my face.
I heard Him speak in my spirit, "I am the Quiet One, Jill. The soft whisper. You won't find me in the loud. You will find me in the quiet."
My heart had been loud. Anything but quiet. In my frantic search for Him, I had lost Him because I was speaking over Him. Yelling over Him, to be honest.
I was so desperate, that somewhere, somehow, I had muted His Voice in my Spirit. Oh, His Voice was there all along, but in my loud, unbelieving, untrusting little heart, I had lost the ability to hear Him.
Since that day, I have committed to quiet my heart. When my heart is quiet, He speaks. Not only does He speak, but I begin to hear Him speaking.
What does a quiet heart look like?
It's being submissive to Him. It's honoring Him. It's trusting Him. It's not planning the what-if-God-doesn't-come-through scenarios. It's saying, "Your will be done, Father. Not my will."
Oh the irony of a New Year's Day post about resting and being quiet.
The world is telling us to "make plans!", "change your life!", "new year, new you!".
Although those things are fabulous, remember where our Father is found...in the still small voice. In the whisper.
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:11-15
God was not in the loud wind, not in the earthquake, not in the raging fire....
He was in the gentle whisper.
turning up the quiet,
jill
Still want to read along with us? Go to:
http://eastridgefamily.org/files/Reading%20Plan/Three%20Year%20Bible%20Reading%20Plan_1.pdf
You can download the plan there. We are on Year Two of this plan. It begins in 1 John.
