Lately I have been feeling extremely busy…life seems to be going by in a blink of an eye. This July will be our first anniversary as a married couple. Yes, I know…I can’t believe it either. I can’t believe that it has been 15 months since I left the US!
I have become so busy that by the end of the day I ask myself…did I really take a moment to take a breath and be with God? Did I sit still in His presence or really listen to Him today? Many times I find myself answering with a no.
It is so easy to be too busy for God even as a missionary.
I find myself relating with Martha a lot. I am not mad at my sister Mary for not helping me…but I do look at God and ask why I am working so hard and nothing is working. I complain and tell God, “I am doing all of this work for you, why am I not succeeding, why do I not see fruit yet, why am I frustrated?”
And I can feel Him replying the same way He did to Martha, “Bethany, Bethany be still. Be with me.”
I think many of us feel like we are busy doing good things, even things for God, but many times miss out on the opportunity to just be with God. I think many of us have good intentions in our hearts to serve God and to know Him. But we are so busy spinning all of the plates that we don’t truly have time to know Him.
I feel like I have so many plates spinning that if I stop, they will all go crashing. I have this false sense of control that I have to do everything myself. I think many of us live with this false sense of control. We try to maintain our busy-ness in order to control our lives, success, families, kids, situations, money, and even God. If we take a moment to pause and rest in God, then maybe the plates will go crashing down.
The truth is that we never have control over the places…a plate can go crashing to the ground regardless of our efforts. God is the only one in control and He wants us to rest in His goodness. He wants us to be able to be still; to be known by Him and know Him.
This is something I am working on…sometimes I am good at sitting still in front of my journal and Bible, but my mind can’t stop thinking over the things that need to be done. But I am trying. I want to have that stillness in my mind and heart so that I can trust God more with control over the plates in my life. I want to reach the end of my day and know that I spent “quality” time with Him. I want that stillness to settle my worried heart so that when one of the plates go crashing, I have His peace to cover me.
What things do you do to create time to be still with God and know Him better? How do you “pause” the busy-ness of your life to rest in Him?
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
