Thursday, February 26, 2009

Be Vewwwy Quiet....

A couple of years ago I was wrestling with the direction God wanted me to go in my life. A good friend and accountability partner asked me when the last time I had taken a day and just spent it with God.

"Uh...never," was my response.

He challenged me to schedule this day within two weeks of our time together.

This was not something I was excited about. Truth be told, the thought of it intimidated me. What would I do during this time? Won't I be bored out of my mind? But...I was challenged. So I scheduled it...and brought along my Bible and a concordance and actually spent that time with Him.

It was incredible to say the least. God really spoke to me about a couple of things.

I have since tried to make this a regular part of my schedule. I have tried to do this at least quarterly. This morning is one of those mornings. I am taking a "mini-retreat," about four hours or so to just seek His presence.

I have gone from dreading this time to looking forward to it and expecting to hear from Him--cool stuff! I highly recommend it--in fact I challenge you to try it!

"Be still, and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10a

3 comments:

Scotts Photography and things said...

well, that is really inspiring, I love that verse in psalm.

I will have to try this sometime soon.

God Bless

sharilyn said...

an excellent idea! i have taken a "weekend personal retreat" about once every year or two... i go away from my home area and take a couple of days for just me and God--no other books and only worship music when it's time for a bit of that, a journal, and an open heart. i usually spend much of the time outdoors, and a remote beach or woods is usually a part of it. God is good, and He loves to speak to us when we're listening... and like 1 Kings 19--He usually comes in a gentle whisper.

Jim Lange said...

Scott, thanks for checking in! My time this morning was great. He gave me some insight into something I had been wrestling with--it is not solved but I have a new perspective now which is helpful. I do recommend you give this a shot, it helps me to become much more peaceful. This is really good for me when I am extra stressed and feel out of control.

Sharilyn, has some good pointers on some ways to do this in her comment above (thanks Sharilyn!).