A Time to Slow Down

Being still is something that I need reminding of often! I am not one to sit around and do nothing, I don't relax well and I definitely like to keep myself busy. While this can be positive in so many ways in one very big way it negatively impacts my life and that is when it comes to knowing God. I very often have to be reminded to slow down and spend time quietly with the Lord. Why is it that I know it is only through Him that I can accomplish anything and only because of Him I have the strength to get through each day and yet I have to constantly be reminded to "be still and know God"? 

These past few months have been a whirlwind of crazy for me. Each thing I had on my plate were things I believed the Lord was in favor of me doing and were given to me by Him as opportunities to be used of Him, but they were also things that required a great deal of time, study and perseverance. I was recently able to finish up my last class, earning me my diploma in Biblical Counseling. Now I can take a breath for a little bit until I begin taking classes for the Masters Diploma and focus on marriage and family counseling in the fall. While I am really looking forward to beginning this program, I am also thankful for the break from 4:30 mornings of listening to lectures and writing paper after paper! 

I was also asked last year to speak at a ladies banquet but just before it was to begin it was cancelled because of a family emergency. They asked me to keep what I had prepared and save it for this year and I just recently came back from speaking at this banquet. In the year that I had to study the theme verse and seek the Lord as to what direction He wanted me to take with it I learned so much more about who God is, who He wants me to be and what changes needed to be made in my heart so that I could be better used of Him for His glory. I am so thankful that I was given an extra year to prepare because the devotional took many shapes and forms over the course of that year as the Lord spoke to my heart. It finally became clear to me what He wanted me to say, just weeks before I was scheduled to present it. There were a lot of sleepless nights as I wrestled with whether or not I was handling His word appropriately and if I was having the right heart attitude as I wrote it...and of course pridefully worrying if I would meet their expectations!

The Lord gave me insight into a verse that I had never really seen and I believe it will help me tremendously as I attempt to counsel women. Last year I didn't see the connection between the verse and what I felt the Lord leading me to do with my life but today I am confident He used it to give me a vision that will be valuable as I try to help people. I also want to share what the Lord has shown me and reminded me of here with you and I plan to do just that. There was no way I could have shared at this banquet all that the Lord showed me because the time just wasn't there. On the blog though I can really dive into the different things the Lord showed me and hopefully be a blessing and encouragement to those reading. My plan is to create a series titled, "Women Builders"...or something like that....and it will consist of different blog posts over several weeks.

I'm excited to finally begin working on this series and I pray that it will be as much a blessing to the reader as it was to me as I studied it. For this week though, I plan to "be still and know God" because I have neglected this too much over the last few weeks. I trust that you too will be able to find a quiet space this week and allow the Lord to speak to your heart and show you all the great things He wants to do in and through you...if you will let Him!