ABIDE

Let me tell you what: God is working!

I have been walking with friends lately through death, and two other close friends with emotional heartbreak, not to mention figuring out my own seeming uncertain life!

But is it uncertain after all? I'll share with you what the Lord's put on my heart over and over again in the past week:

ABIDE IN ME!

I have been digging deeper into what this actually means - and what the Lord has re-iterated over and over again is this: been trust in how I've moved and worked in your life, and abide in me until the time when I choose to move again. I feel like "abide" has a subtly different shade of meaning from "wait," and in my heart this makes all the difference. I am not by nature a patient person. But I can patiently abide and trust my Creator while His peace washes over me - the kind of peace that surpasses all human understanding!

Thinking about the peace He offers each one of us just stirs my heart that much more deeply for Him. Another mental picture that comes to mind is that of a tree with deep, deep roots planted by the water like it talks about in Isaiah. Or is it Jeremiah? Well, anyway, come rain or shine, freezing winter or warm spring, the deep roots are unshaken.

To me, "abide" also means listening more, talking less. It's hard for me to set my own agenda aside, but spending time with the Lord asking Him to speak to me (instead of the other way around) has changed me!

It also means being more intentional in my free time - more of what I love, what stirs my heart for Jesus, and less of what drains me. This has meant spending more time outside running, reading some books I'd put aside, and spending with friends that make me laugh! And I am without any guilt laying down those obligations that do nothing but rob me of joy.

The enemy came to steal, kill and destroy us in any way possible. But Christ!! He came so we could have a joyfully abundant life in Him!