Still

I don’t need to tell you that we are living in an unprecedented time in history. Most of us here in the good ol’ USA have never felt what we are feeling now. 

Sure, 9/11 was a terrible tragedy, and it did forever change us as a nation, but many of us were back to “normal” within a couple of weeks. 

The 2008 recession was scary. We read the news articles that proclaimed a once robust housing market was crashing around us. 

And what about Hurricane Katrina? We watched from our cozy house in Indiana as the devastation unfolded in New Orleans. 

Sad? YES! Scary? Absolutely!

Personal? Not for me…. and unless you lived near the Gulf, probably not for you either.

But this?

This is scary AND very personal. 

As I sit here this afternoon, I can say that my world has been turned upside down. It’s Monday afternoon, and I didn’t go to my job this morning or drop my son off at school. Instead, he is sitting in our living room, doing school work on a Chromebook. 

On Friday, I sat at the kitchen table and navigated an unemployment application for the first time in my life. 

Earlier today, we blew kisses to my nieces, whose family is in quarantine, as they lined up at the picture window. 

No one saw it coming. 

We were working, and planning, and dreaming. Then suddenly everything screeched to a halt. 

Our vocabulary has changed: social distancing, coronavirus, outbreaks, hot-spots, pandemic, quarantine… 

Instead of giving us levity or serving as a distraction, social media feeds the information frenzy – rampant with rumors, statistics, videos, photos, and arm-chair epidemiologists. 

It is so easy to be sucked into the vortex of fear and panic surrounding this pandemic. 

But it’s not all bad news. 

In this uncertain moment, I have seen so many amazing things. I’ve seen families biking or walking together, strangers paying for groceries, and communities supporting small businesses. 

I’ve seen the church be “the church” – proving that a church is not a building with four walls, but a body of believers reaching out to one another and the world that so desperately needs them.

I’ve seen sinners pray for believers and believers trevail for people they’ve never met. 

I’ve watched my pastor be the wise shepherd that he is; giving us loving direction and assurance. 

Maybe this is our chance to hit reset? I think the song by 4Him said it best: “We need to get back to the basics of life”. 

Maybe we should get back to the basics of life. Maybe this is the time for doing just that. 

Romans 12:9 ~ “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This is just the beginning, it goes much further. 

I can’t help but think that maybe God has been speaking to me and maybe I was too busy to listen. 

Maybe I heard Him and acknowledged what He said, but didn’t make any time for Him in my schedule.  

Maybe, just maybe, He had something amazing that He was calling me to do and I never stopped long enough to hear. 

Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

This is our opportunity! 

What if we take this time to be still in His presence? 

Maybe we press pause on our Netflix series, silence our phones, and spend some time in the Word. No distractions – just being still before Him. He will give us peace in the storm and joy that is unspeakable. 

Psalms 91:2 says, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

One of my favorite husband/wife songwriter teams penned this song and it has been on repeat at our house over the last week.

Still

The more I get alone

The more I see I need to get alone more, more

Cause just when I think that I’m alone

Your Spirit calls out to me

And even silence has a song

Cause that’s when You come

Sing over me

Still, let me be still

Let me be okay

With the quiet in my heart

Still, I want to be still

I’m so quick to move

Instead of listening to you

Shut my mouth

Crush my pride

Give me the tears

Of a broken life

Still

Of this world, it falls around me

And flutters all it’s beauty in my eyes

But let me choose the solitude

Simplicity has always simply changed my life

Cause even stillness makes me move

Cause that’s when my heart

Learns to dance with you

“Still” Words & Music by Christy Nockels & Nathan Nockels
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.


4 thoughts on “Still

  1. Sis I’ve been feeling the samething as if Gods yelling in my ears Get back to the basics of life..as I have posted several times on my Facebook in the last month,yes it’s time to get back what SATAN has stolen from his people & to get back our prayer lifes,our reading his word & our family time..( playing games,eating as a family together also doing all these spiritual things mentioned above together.we all have slipped away not from God but from communicating each day with him.in order to have a relationship we need to talk to our saviour also…thank u so very much..u have wrote the words perfectly I Love You cuz!!! Miss u guys & ty for doing Gods will ur a AMAZING family. Remember ur mine too lol!!!

    1. Amen Amen!!!!!
      When we are still….. we can hear the still small voice
      Still practicing the still ????

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