Simply Soul Searching
HOW IS GOD LOVING ME – AND WHERE IS GOD LEADING ME?
ADVENT: A SEASON OF STILLNESS (AND SURPRISES?)
INTRODUCTION
For the past several years, I have felt an increasingly deeper “Advent Ache,” an inner longing for more of God in Christ amid the heartache, worry, and sometimes despair of these days. This year, as I contemplated reflections for the season, I listed some of my soul’s deepest longings (such as peace, patience, hope, purpose, justice) and wondered how God might help me with them. Suddenly the verse from Psalm 46 came to mind:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
It came to me that if I could be still with God, I would be giving God more of my attention and space to work with every longing in my soul.
I sense this invitation to Be Still as a time to be with God just as I am, even when I am carrying heaviness, hurt, or heartache. What might happen if I humbly offer my sorrow, anxiousness, fear, scorn, anger, frustration, or other burdens to God as gifts? What might happen if I prayerfully name and surrender all that is troubling, all that aches within me? Might God be ready to receive my daily burdens, my unattractive qualities, my doubting ways–in order to empty my cluttered soul, to clear space for more of God’s goodness?
More than that, the invitation to Be Still also asks that I let go of my expectations. As I spend time in quiet stillness, I hope to truly let God be God, to set aside my (often short-sighted or selfish) seeking and allow God to fill me as God sees fit. When Mary was told that she would be the mother of Jesus, she too, had been longing. She understood that God had looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant and filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:48, 53). And Mary was filled with good things–God things–but they were certainly unexpected things, even difficult things! As God looks with favor on my lowliness and fills my every longing, I may be surprised, too. But as I continue preparing my heart and soul for our Celebration of Jesus’s birth, I wonder…
What new thing might God want to be birthed in me?
Bless you this Advent. May you find moments of stillness in which you feel the deepest longings of your soul quieted and fulfilled in unexpected ways.
(Photo by Karen; sunrise in Newberry, SC)
Simply Soul Searching 
Dear Karen,Thank you for this devotion.
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Thank you, Sandy. You are a blessing in my life. ♥️
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love this thoughtful conversation. It’s resonating and calming my mind. Christmas blessings on you and yours!
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Oh, thank you, Linda! Your friendship is a gift. Christmas blessings to you, too!
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Wishing you blessings in this season of advent! Thank you for this devotion. Sometimes, I pray with my hands open. It helps me to remember that I must turn all things over to God. My open hands remind me that I must ‘let go’ of the worries and cares. I must give them to God and trust that He alone knows best.
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Thank you, Linda, my writing friend! I have done this, too, but you are good to remind me. The physical act of opening our hands really enhances our prayers for openness, doesn’t it?!
Thank you! Bless you!
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Wonderful thoughts. I recently read “one of the greatest gifts we can give to Jesus is our time…” That goes right along with being still. I am a planner. I like to plan my day…and, too often, plan my time/my hours as if they are all my own. But, in being still and spending time simply being alone with Him….surely He must delight in that! Thanks for the encouragement.
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Thank you, Jennifer, and yes! I’m like you with that planning. Bless you!
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