Being still: I never understood why people liked it. Honestly, it felt like a waste of time. I always felt like I needed to be doing something and if I wasn’t constantly moving I was thinking of all the stuff I needed to get accomplished. My whole life was always go go go; there was school, baseball or basketball games and just life but it wasn’t until the race that I discovered what being truly still means. As I laid with my head pressed against the tile floor I began to feel like I was going to pass out. I was COVERED in sweat from the Cambodian heat and although I was constantly drinking water it didn’t seem to be enough due to constant urge to explore cambodia. Ever since we stepped foot off the plane I was in love with Battambang! There was so much to see and so many things to do and I was determined to see it all. Since getting our bikes, I have yet to stop riding it- whether it was down the street to find the noodle man or to the basketball courts to play with new kids we met- I wasn’t going to rest until I had to be back at the house for curfew. My thought was why come to another country just to stay at the house but God quickly answered that question for me. I was so fascinated by the beauty of this new environment and its culture and so willing to meet new people that I wasn’t listening to what God had to say to me. I would wake, up read a couple of verses , and say my prayer asking God to speak to me. But I didn’t hear him or feel him right away, so I would pick right up with the business of the day and move on.
I wasn’t feeling the presence of the Lord because I wasn’t willing to slow down and focus solely on Him. As a result, God made it so I had no other choice. Every muscle ached as I sprawled out across the floor and hoped that the more water I consumed the better I would feel. But after a while I realized that no amount of water would help so I just laid there. Still; no thought racing thought my mind, no worries of what was later to come. I just laid there – limp and that when God began to move. As the room began to feel smaller and smaller I began to feel God’s presence and sense him saying, “now, I finally have your attention.” In that moment all the beauty of Cambodia didn’t seem to matter if I wasn’t accomplishing what God set before me while I was there. He taught me that I gave up everything I knew to come on this journey to know Him more but I wasn’t searching for Him in the right places. He slowed down my pace of life to show me that He is found in the silence and stillness which is something I have never experienced before.
