“Be still. Know that I am God. Know that I am love. Know that I hold your heart” (Precious Sacrifice, 2016, Be Still). These are the lyrics to a song my cousin wrote three years ago. He gave me the CD, and this song quickly became my favorite. It has become an anthem for me. I return to it almost daily.
In this season of The World Race this song has grown even deeper in meaning for me. I am a person who goes, goes, goes. I struggle to sit still. I struggle to trust other people, including Christ. I have lived independently, and have become good at being on my own.
In the last few months, God has been shifting my heart. He has opened my eyes to see the beauty in community. He has repeatedly spoken peace and stillness over me. I think in many ways He is just asking me to trust Him to give me safety in friendships. That I can have assurance in Him. That despite my reservations about slowing down, opening up and trusting others with my heart and my story, He has me. He is the one who holds my heart. As long as my heart remains with Him, He will protect it. He was the one who created it after all. He knows me, my name, the hairs on my head, all the insecurities I hold. He has never once failed me. He intimately knows all the things I feel and think, and loves me still. He is a good Father.
In the next months, as I walk through ministry with my team, I am confident that God is going to continue to teach me to slow down, to embrace community, and to embrace myself. I am not perfect, but God didn’t ask me to be. He just wants me to trust Him with all of me, and let Him use me to bring glory to His name. He brought me here for a purpose, and He is bigger than me.
I am grateful for a God who never quits seeking after me. He never is surprised by me. He is never done loving me. The same is true for you!
As you go about your lives this week, remember that there is a God who is madly in love with you. That He will never stop seeking after you. That He sent His only Son to die for you, so that you can spend eternity in relationship with Him. Rest in that assurance. That if you have given your heart to Him, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ. As Paul said in Romans 8:35, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” Listen to the response that God gave him in verses 38 and 39 of the same chapter:
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We have no need for fear. God’s love is perfect. He is all-powerful. There is nothing that He cannot handle. He is perfect in His protection of our hearts, minds and souls. He deserves our all. He deserves all of our trust.
Glory be His name!
Farewell from South Africa,
Liesl
