New Year, New Routine!
Water On Thirsty Land |
Hey there! I know I have been a bit quiet lately. Over the last month God made it clear I needed to take a sort of sabbatical to focus on my family before we enter into a season of major transitions. I didn't intend or plan for the time away, and the first couple of weeks I spent trying to force myself not to stress about the things left undone, the messages left unwritten, the studies left unpublished... but as the time went on, I realized what God was doing with the time He called me to enter into. Every year for the last many years God has laid a word on my heart for the new year. This year I hadn't sensed or heard anything from God so I had accepted that I may not have one this time. In the quiet time He called me into, though, God spoke so clearly to me. I know to some of you reading "God spoke to me" may seem really strange, but if you know you know... God has His unique way of "speaking" to each of us. The thing about that is, we have to be ready to hear Him, receive Him, and accept His Word. We have to be willing to listen and obey, to exercise our faith muscles. This season He called me into over the last several weeks was a season God needed me in so I could slow down, quiet myself, seek His peace and presence, and refocus on Him. He was calling me back to Himself, the source of peace, the only way to find stillness, rest and quiet for my very soul. Some of you know that I have been struggling with a wrist injury for some time now. June 2022 I injured my wrist, and ever since it has been an incredible struggle. It is my dominant wrist, and it has been a doozy to work through things without use of my dominant hand much of the time, and I feel incredible pain when I do use it. I have been to many doctors and specialists...I stopped counting when I saw the 10th. Still no answers, just more appointments and disappointing non-answers. Through the injury, I have learned so much about the Lord, though. I have grown in my faith, my trust in His plan and design, my surrender to His reasons I will likely never know, and have finally reached a point where, although I still struggle and get frustrated, I won't let the injury hinder the work He calls me to do - but sometimes I need to stop and allow Him to clarify the direction I am meant to go. I need to let Him slow me down, still me, impart His quietness on my mind and my soul. So here we are.... 2024. A new year, full of new things, new possibilites, new grace and mercies. But God is still the same...it is me who needs to allow Him to make me new again and again. My word this year is "Quiet". The verse that has been on my heart is Psalm 46:10 - "Be still, and know that I Am God..." Be still....and know... Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Another translation says to "cease striving". This word is rāp̄â in Hebrew, and it literally means to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake, to be quiet, to let go. And to "know", yāḏaʿ, is to percieve and understand. To be still and know that God is God is to let go of control and let God be God. Stop trying to be god of your own life; relax, abandon the reigns, refrain from grabbing back onto them, refrain from the tempation to keeping DOING. Be still...let go...let God be God. Be quiet and trust Him to be God. HE will be exalted...not me. Quiet down and allow Him to work and His glory to be exalted. In the time God called me to stillness, He showed me a hint of the depth of this verse. I got to experience a taste of the stillness we can only have in Him, and I know this is what God is calling me to invest in learning and growing in this year... learning to be still and KNOW that HE is God, and HE will be exalted. Learning to lean into Him more, seek Him more, hear Him more, trust Him more, and obey Him more. So, as we embark on this new year, I want to invite you to invest in your own quiet time with the Lord, allow Him to fill you up, show you where to go, and where to grow. This year WOTL will also be dedicated to the journey of resting in the Lord and seeking Him for refilling and rest for our souls. I look forward to what the Lord will do on this journey this year, and the growth and grace we will all experience. Check out this mailing list I recommend! |
Water On Thirsty Land
Water On Thirsty Land exists to edify, build up, and fellowship with Christians who want to live better for the Lord. Let’s grow stronger in our faith and relationship with Him, together and individually!