In The Quiet

"When we stop the music of our life to enter solitude

we sit down right where we are at that moment,

and that's where we meet God.

We meet God in our

present delight

or our present sadness.

We meet God in the tears of our life

and the laughter of our life.

We meet God in our most unnerving questions

and in the answers we are celebrating.

No matter where we are on any given day,

when the music stops

and everything gets quiet,

we sit down right where we are

and allow ourselves to be there

with him."

--Invitation to Solitude and Silance"

Ruth Haley Barton

What a gift I have each day

as I sit at His feet

in the quiet of my home

to be with Him.

God continues to grace my days

with deeper moments of awareness

of places of
fear 

mistrust

insecurity

worry

Even the strong conviction

of my lack of genuine repentance

has been a beautiful

grace from Him

How He continues to sweep over me with

the powerful words of Isaiah 30:15

"In repentance and rest you shall be saved,

In quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it."

Deeper and deeper He is taking me

revealing the intertwining

of repentance

rest

quietness

and trust

And in the quietness
His challenge 

lovingly haunts me...

"...but you would have none of it."

I can see more clearly now

how my repentance

is only skin deep--

"just until I get through the crisis"

So quickly I begin to rationalize,

impulsively climbing the ladder of 

over extending myself

again

Why?

Because my identity

is tangled throughout

my giving

and compassion

and encouragement

and mercy

Because this

"messiah complex"

feeds my emptiness

Because I mistrust God's

faithful care in the lives of others

And so this is where I

sit with God right now...

in the midst of the 

messy places in my soul

Yet still He meets me here!

In the quiet
 ever so slowly
I am being transformed
by Him