Be Still and know . . .
Guest post by Cathe Swanson
How often are you truly at peace, at rest, alone with God?
Is your mind always filled with people, work and things? In idle moments, do
you seek distraction or entertainment? Most of us enjoy a break from our
responsibilities and anxieties. What do you do with that time? Read a book,
watch television, visit with a friend, browse Facebook and Pinterest, go
shopping, play games? There’s nothing wrong with relaxing entertainment. I am
grateful for Facebook, where I can see pictures of my grandchildren. It’s important
to spend enjoyable time with your loved ones, and I certainly don’t want you to
stop reading books!
Perhaps you garden, exercise, knit or watch birds –
activities that should leave your mind open for prayer. Those things do require
some attention, though, and if you are like me, your mind is prone to wander
back into the world, maybe even dwelling on those anxieties and
responsibilities. Often, when I have activities that occupy my hands but don’t
require my full mental attention, I listen to audiobooks, so even when I could
pray and meditate on Scripture, I clutter up my mind, filling it with something
else.
We are called to worship and to serve in local church
communities. The Holy Spirit equipped us for that work among the body of
believers. It’s good and right. And yet, in this busy world, we also need to spend
time alone with God, very still and apart from all that might distract us. For
some women, especially those with young children, that means getting up very
early, before the household (Psalm 119:47-48), or at night in bed, as David
often did. (Psalm 4:4, Psalm 63:5-8, Psalm 77:6 and more).
In other stages of life, we have more flexibility. Wherever
we are, though, we need to be still and give Him our full attention. Jesus
withdrew from his disciples, to speak to His Father. Throughout the Psalms,
David speaks alone and intimately to God, with a hopeful soul, waiting, and God
responds. David called on God in grateful praise, in deep pain and in
frustration. He was honest and completely focused on God.
In my book, Baggage Claim, Teresa is a believer. She
reads her Bible, prays and goes to church. She’s confident in her faith. But
when she moves to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she is alone with God for
the first time in her life, experiencing his glory in a whole new way. She is still, knowing God, and realizes that
the petty sins of her life – discontent, anxiety and irritation – cannot
coexist with that real stillness. You can find that. I encourage you to get
alone with God for a while every day. Leave behind the study guides and prayer
journals. Shut off the praise music. Be still – really still - and know that He
is God.
♦ ♦ ♦
Baggage Claim, Feb 2017
There had to be at least one healthy branch on his family tree…
Who can he trust?
Ben Taylor, widower and
father of four lively children, enjoys his easy, uncomplicated life. He likes
his work and has a competent nanny to manage his household. Everything is good
until he decides to seek out his biological parents and discovers a family tree
with tangled roots and broken branches.
His comfortable life crumbles
when he gets caught up in a criminal network of fraud and conspiracy at his new
job. When Ben is forced into a dangerous alliance, he scrambles to find a safe
situation and protection for his children before setting out to clear his
name—all without getting himself killed in the process.
A nanny with a past…
Becoming a nanny was the
perfect solution when Teresa Cooper needed a place to hide ten years ago, but now
that she’s no longer in danger, she’s ready to move on and make a new life for
herself. When Ben asks her to take the children to an unknown relative in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she finds herself in hiding again, this time with
four children in tow.
Cathe
Swanson lives in Wisconsin with her husband of 32 years. They enjoy spending
time with their family and being outdoors, kayaking, hiking, birdwatching and
fishing, but summer is short in Wisconsin, so it’s important to have indoor
hobbies, too. Cathe has been a quilter and teacher of quiltmaking for over 25
years, and she enjoys just about any kind of creative work, especially those
involving fiber or paper. Her family is growing steadily; she and her husband had three sons, and those boys all grew up and married delightful women and started producing grandchildren: three boys and two girls so far - and two more arriving in the spring!
The long Wisconsin winters are perfect for writing and reading books! Cathe enjoys writing stories with eccentric characters of all ages. Her books will make you laugh and make you cry – and then make you laugh again.
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To Enter Cathe's Giveaway:
Leave a Comment Below, along with your first name AND email address and answer the following question: Where is your favorite place to go where you can 'Be still, and know . . .'?
Giveaway ends one week from today (March 24) at Midnight, CDT. Winner will be notified via email after a random drawing. Have fun with this!
Thank you so much, Cathe, for this timely, and thought-provoking post. God bless you!
