Sometimes the bay where I walk is unusually still; barely a ripple shifts the surface tension of the waters. At other times, the wildness of the weather comes straight from an Emily Brontë novel and the wind whips, forming waves that surge upon the sand.
Regardless of weather, these days God is often speaking as I walk. It could be the lack of quietness in our home because of a full house in lockdown. It maybe I just haven’t stopped, made room. It may just be where He speaks now…
Who am I to question?
We have a full, noisy house…
My husband and daughter work in my home office. My husband at my desk; my daughter at another desk. My son sits in his bedroom, where he has attended most of his first year of high school.
Then there are zoom ballet lessons 6 days a week (day and night at various times). Ballet music fills our living area, which is open plan to our kitchen and dining area. This means that I often duck and weave the camera as I make yet another cup of tea…
My daughter has a habit of settling herself where her mood suits – her desk in my office, her bedroom, chasing the sun outside, at the dining table (which is my favourite place to work).
It is a full, noisy house…
It’s not that I mind noise – sometimes. However, having nowhere to retreat that is free of invasion by good meaning family members is challenging, especially when you feel called into a quiet time with God.
Sometimes I like to have a quiet sit with God; other times, it’s a wild worship in the living area. I may journal, prophetically play music, shout, sing, complete prophetic acts… what I sense Him asking of me, I do, as best I can.
I have not had the luxury of uninterrupted alone time in our house since mid-March 2020.
Playing musical rooms with my laptop, with no place to settle… God still calls…
He’s not interested in my excuses, my reasons, my habits, he sees them all anyway.
I moved a small table from my office into my bedroom – not ideal, but it was a little desk where I could zoom, or write, or do admin, etc. The afternoon sunlight streams into the room and brings me quiet joy. Having a zoom call in my bedroom is not ideal, but we make the most of it.
25 weeks of zoomed ballet classes later, I still sit and write in my bedroom… it’s our ‘new normal’.
I can hear the music of my son’s ballet class. The ballet mistress makes corrections, sometimes with kindness, and at other times…
I pray for the person who is the focus of a harsh word as I walk through to my kitchen for a cup of tea.
As a prophetic ‘feeler’, the people, the noise, the news reports, the aggression, the fear, the frustration, the sadness, the intensity of emotions can overwhelm. Many of you feel the same way.
I can walk into a shop, and feel the emotion. I often know the challenges on a person. The atmosphere in a store can slap and if someone is hurting, if someone has been dabbling in the occult, I often sense it.
The atmosphere here in Melbourne Australia has been intense. I’m sure it has been intense in many places around the world, yet, I am still called to Him. I have no excuse.
Being in Him with intentionality is the most refreshing place to be…
Each day I walk, and each day He speaks. Regardless of whether I’m listening, He speaks. He loves me enough to always be speaking, to always be present, it’s just whether I’m present to Him. Am I centring myself in His heart beat for myself, my family, my friends, for the nation…
He speaks, and He shows me that:
He is my refuge.
He is my strength.
He is my God in whom I can trust…
If I will just stop and press in, if I will stop doing… if I will…
Be still and know that He is God… (Psalm 46:10 NIV)
The stillness in the storm: x marks the spot©Beth Kennedy 2020
‘X’ marks the spot.
God needs to be the centre of our frame, the centre of our image.
He calls us to walk on water…
There may well be a storm brewing around us, but yet He calls…
There is a place of stillness in the storm and it’s in Him, at His centre…
Will I answer the call?
Will you answer the call?
Will we answer the call together?
If we do, I believe that the earth will see that He is the shelter and as His hand delivers us, they will also see that…
God is Good!