A Circle of Quiet
By nature I’m a planner. My husband teases me that I pack for trips weeks before and he throws a few clothes in a suitcase the day of and is ready to go. Sometimes I remind him of a camping trip he took with our oldest son Mitch while I was away on a business trip. He said they were able to get everything in the truck with room to spare, but when I go with them everything including the kitchen sink is packed. But then I asked, “How was your food and did you stay warm?” On that particular trip the answers were, “not very good and no, we were cold.” The weather had far more to do with that than I did, but it’s a funny memory and reminder that over planning isn’t always a bad thing, right?
A lot of planning goes into moving. Logistics, paperwork, organizing people and so much more. Then there are always a few glitches. In our move there were five homes involved, it was a chain of sellers and buyers. This greatly complicated the process and added to the stress. There were several delays, signatures missed on final documents, holidays and people that would hold up the process. Each time I would be giving a closing date I would schedule time off work to move and then I would have to change it when the closing was delayed. This process extended the closing of our home, which was the end of the chain, by almost two months.
Through the delays we were able to stay in our home with most of our belongings in storage. The family buying our home was living in a camper and had been for two months by the time they finally were able to move into the home. We had it much easier, however I was stresses and frustrated so badly that I had hives. To add to the hives, while driving home one night a deer ran into the driver’s door of my car and rolled down the side.
The next morning as I sat at the table I just wanted to cry, but my head and eyes hurt so much from the hives that I didn’t want to add to it. The enemy had been hurling doubt and wrong thoughts and I felt like a wounded sheep being attacked. Then God gave me His word on the situation.
Psalm 94:12 (Message)
“How blessed the man you train, God, the woman you instruct in your Word, Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil, while a jail is being built for the wicked. God will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people. Rest assured that justice is on its way and every good heart put right.
Psalm 94: 16-19 (Message)
If God hadn’t been there for me,
I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
you calmed me down and cheered me up.
That is exactly what I needed to hear. He is my “Circle of Quiet” amidst the chaos. As soon as I read this my heart and soul calmed down. I began thinking of all the people involved in this moving process and was able to see them differently. Not as delays or roadblocks, but as people I would not have met if we weren’t moving. Each with their own story and each a piece of this God Adventure. Without the delays we wouldn’t have come to know each of them and through the process we made some new friends and memories.
My prayer
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me
Father, Thank you for being my “Circle of Quiet,” for calming my mind and heart and showing me that you are completely in control. Your timing is perfect and although you gifted me with a passion for planning, you also want me to trust in Your plan. Through Your plan I will have adventures I would never have imagined and I will see You in ways that can only be understood through walking in Your ways, step by step. You are a good God, You are My God, My Everything and I love you Lord. Amen
Where does my help come from?
Psalm 94:22 (NIV)
“But the Lord has become my fortress,
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.”