“still” -God

2020 hit and the word the Lord placed on my heart for the year was…  “STILL“

I said ?????? God, I am 100% the opposite of still. I don’t like being still, I like to go out, see, and do. I did not want to be still and I was genuinely so confused on why that was the word that the Lord gave me walking into 2020. Now I am here a year later just sitting in awe.

This past year left the door WIDE open to be still. A global pandemic?? This pretty much forced me to be still in the presence of the Lord. It’s funny because when I first heard the Lord tell me to be still I was so resentful and I thought to myself “yeah okay maybe in a million years if I am forced to do it, i’ll be still” and then BOOM corona baby. I was forced… kinda felt like God just laughed in my face. Lots of growth and changing in this past year. I am thankful. 

I am not saying that it’s a bad thing to make lots of plans and go go go, but when I was doing that, I was missing out on the beauty of being still in the presence of the Lord. It took me a LONG TIME to find a good balance between pouring out into others and taking time out of my day to let the Lord pour into me. You can’t pour out of an empty cup and if you’re constantly going, you aren’t giving yourself enough time to be open and patient for the Lord to speak to you and be humbled in His presence. 

I have caught myself more often than not, being afraid of being still. Not because I don’t want intimate time with the Lord, but because my flesh doesn’t desire renewal. My spirit is begging for change and growth but the sin-desiring side of me always puts up a fight. Being still in front of the Lord is kinda scary, but the good kind of scary. Intimidated by his power but also His sweet loving-kindness. Feeling so unworthy of the moment but so thankful, not wanting it to end. Taking myself to the cross is hard, He never said it would be easy. But in order for us to share our faith and counsel someone else, we must take ourselves to the alter and be still. And thats what he calls us to do.

I have found such a deeper and more intimate connection with the Lord in this past year, just sitting expectantly in His presence. Taking a second to breath and listen to Him before I speak. Just being willing to be sitting at his feet. I’ve found that sometimes I don’t need to actually talk about whats going on, he already knows, I just need to quietly weep to Him, ears opened to just listen. 

The amount of times someone randomly sent me this verse or wrote it down and handed it to me this year was more than I could count. Jesus is cool like that.

Exodus 14:14

¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Do not be afraid to be still in the presence of the Lord. It is intimidating, but so sweet. I am thankful for what I learned about being still last year, and I’m excited to see what I learn from the word the Lord gives me this year. 

Thanks again for reading 🙂

– Corryn Scharff