Revelation Within On the Go!

Embracing Stillness: Deepening Your Intimacy With Jesus

July 05, 2023 Heidi Bylsma-Epperson and Christina Motley Season 1 Episode 49
Revelation Within On the Go!
Embracing Stillness: Deepening Your Intimacy With Jesus
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Are you yearning for a deeper connection with Jesus, but find yourself constantly caught in a flurry of activities and thoughts? Let's journey together in this episode as we explore the profound challenge of practicing stillness. Recently, our community took part in a five-day challenge that included embracing gratitude, cultivating self-compassion, unmasking lies, embodying truth, and building life-giving relationships. But the task that pushed us to our limits was the practice of stillness!

Imagine a world where our minds and hearts are still enough to truly listen to God. Why is it so difficult for us to slow down and listen? Together, we dive into the struggles that come with being still, dismantling the reasons why we resist hearing what the Lord has to say. We also look at the Bible as our guide, exploring the significance of stillness in deepening our intimacy with God.

To navigate the challenges of stillness, we share some strategies inspired by the scriptures and the lifestyle of Jesus. Our recommendations include the One Minute Pause app, an excellent tool to help you cultivate a habit of stillness. But that's not all; we go beyond the mind and explore how our physical body can deepen our connection with God. Join us as we explore the intersection of body, mind, and spirit in fostering a more profound relationship with the Lord. 

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Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org


Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within on the Go. I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the revelationwithincom ministry, and I'm Christina.

Speaker 2:

Mobley, another one of your hosts, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within, And we are so excited to welcome you to this episode of our podcast, Revelation Within on the Go.

Speaker 1:

Welcome, welcome, so glad to have you. This week, well, christina and I have been hosting a challenge in our community, revwithinteam, in case you want to join us. But we've been hosting a challenge and we just wrapped it up. It's a five day challenge And we discovered that one of the challenge tasks was especially challenging for a number of people in our challenge. So we thought we would kind of talk about that a little bit in case anybody out there any listener, also finds this a challenge, and hopefully we can come up with some creative suggestions so that the challenge becomes less and the joy in experiencing it is more.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I wonder what it is.

Speaker 1:

I wonder what it is Building the suspense.

Speaker 2:

We had so much fun for the last five days with this challenge and we had some really wonderful topics. What were they, heidi? What did we talk about each?

Speaker 1:

day. Day one was embracing gratitude, and we had a couple of tasks for that day that people could choose from if they wanted to. And then day two was cultivating self compassion and soul care. I love that That was a good one. We should do a podcast on that one too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Day three was unmasking lies, embodying truth, day for unleashing creativity. And day five, our last day, was building life, giving relationships.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, wonderful, wonderful topics. We had such a great turnout And we enjoyed so much discussing these with everybody. So, Heidi, which is the one that was so challenging for so many of us I'm on that. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you know, you were there. Well and here's the interesting thing is we had a really good turnout day one. We had a great turnout. Day two, we had an even better turnout. A lot of people that I didn't expect to have be there were there. So we discussed day two challenge tasks and day three there was a drop off. So you know, as I, as I looked at how people had responded in our little mighty network space that we have for the challenge, it was clear that one of the tasks was especially challenging and that task was that we day two, of course, was cultivating compassion and soul care and the we challenged people to stillness just for a little while, stillness of the Lord, inviting him into a still moment or two, or more, if they could.

Speaker 2:

And I tell you what this was hard. What do you mean, heidi? what do you mean by stillness? what does that mean? stillness before the Lord? I mean just sitting quietly.

Speaker 1:

What? what does it mean? Well, the way I see it is, i spend a lot of time talking at God and talking to him, sure, but a lot of what I'm doing is telling him what I think he ought to do about things. I really think that my husband should get a raise, lord. so, lord, please give him a raise. Lord, i really think that Michael's mom should x, y or z. would you please cause her to do x, what you know that we do a lot of talking to God, telling him what we think should be his, and all do that. yes, right, and really, communication is a two way street, and it's true with God to with the Lord. we want to get in a habit of speaking, yes, and hopefully doing so frequently, early and often, but then listening as well, and there's a deepening of our intimacy with him that can go on when we're not always filling the silence with our own thoughts, our own voice, our own concerns, our own worries. He wants us to pour that stuff out to him, of course, and then do we ever ask him? and then we just take off and get going on the rest of our lives, whatever it is we're doing, instead of sitting and waiting for him to lay on our hearts what his answers might be, or what his provision might be, or what his thoughts might be about. whatever it is. What do you think, christina?

Speaker 2:

Well, as you were talking, Heidi, i was thinking about When am I ever still? I mean, i might be, you know, sitting in a chair or laying down, but my mind, when is my body still? when is my mind still? So I was thinking about how, in our culture right now, with technology, the way it is, nobody is still anymore. We don't sit and look out the window, we don't, you know, lay down in the grass and just look at the clouds anymore. I mean, i think about being still a lot of the stillness that I used to do and I don't mean necessarily stillness with God a lot of the stillness used to be when I was waiting, like waiting on the phone or waiting at an appointment, or waiting for one of my kids to come out of school. Now, all of that, now, all of that waiting time is now filled for most people with technology, with scrolling, yeah, and scrolling, managing emails and managing texts and answering people, calling people back, and it seems like our whole world is never still right now. I don't know, does that what you see, heidi?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, that's definitely what I see. The thing that I would like to develop in my life and challenge others to is an attitude, a heart posture of stillness. Yeah, it's great if we can physically, literally be still as well to go along with that. But I mean because a person's body can be still but their mind might not be. in fact, i remember when a pastor called me out on that I was counseling with him and he said you know, heidi, you may be taking a little bit of a quiet time in the world, but you are. you know, because I really had a good habit of that. He said but is your mind ever really quiet? So in fact, that's challenging. Yeah, it is, it's very challenging. In fact, this pastor gave me a passage that he wanted me to spend some time with. Psalm 131, verse two, says I have calmed and quieted myself. I am like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child, i am content And wow you know that talks of a stillness that is very unfamiliar to me.

Speaker 2:

I know that for me, being still before the Lord has always been such a challenge. I'm kind of a go-getter girl, you know. I've always had this personality where I want to go, i want to do, i want to serve, i want to be out there, i want to be part of the team. I've always been the kind of person that is moving, moving, moving as a busy mom, as a busy teacher, as a busy neighbor, daughter, sister all the roles that I have. I have always been a busy, busy bee, and so my mind was always filled with thoughts of what do I need to do next? How can I prepare for this? I haven't gotten this done yet. Where's my to-do list? I haven't made it yet. I need to make a list of my lists. I mean, i, that's who I was for a very, very long time, and then something happened about nine years ago. I found out that I had chronic Lyme disease and I was knocked flat and my whole go-go personality took a big hit And that has been really, really hard. But it's also given me an opportunity to be still with the Lord several times a day, really, and that has been something that has changed my relationship with the Lord. I find myself much, much more than ever ever before in conversation with the Lord. Now, i still talk too much, i know I do. I've got, you know, all these things that I want to say and share with the Lord. And what about this? What did you think about that? And, oh my gosh, what's going on with my friend? Will you please intervene, lord? I've got all these things to say. So I know that I'm still struggling with this. I'm working on it, for sure, but in those moments that I can let everything go and just be still before Him, i start to hear Him in my soul, in my spirit, even in my mind. Sometimes I feel like He gives me thoughts in my mind and ideas. Yeah, yeah, and that's something that I I don't know. I think a lot of people struggle with that. Do you really hear God, christina, or is it just your own thinking? But you know, we have the Holy Spirit within us, those of us that know the Lord, and so, yes, we have a counselor, we have a best friend, we have somebody who's guiding us 24 hours a day. And that's the Holy Spirit. So when I'm quiet, he really does speak to me. Sometimes it's in a feeling or kind of a sense of something, sometimes He'll just give me peace, and other times they're very specific suggestions and ideas like how about this, christina? So yeah, but it's always been hard for me, very, very hard for me, to slow my mind down and listen.

Speaker 1:

And it is for a lot of people. And I appreciate that you have brought up one reason why it is so hard, because I'm sure a lot of people can identify with that, and that reason being that, temperament-wise, that doesn't seem to jive with you. Stillness doesn't seem to jive with you at all. It's something that is kind of foreign to your nature, almost like God wired you to not be still, which is an interesting thing we could scrutinize a little bit. But there are a lot of other reasons that we have a difficult time being still. See, i'm not a go-go girl. I mean, some people have thought that I was because you know, i was homeschooling and helping out at church and doing all these different headhorses and all of that stuff all at once, and they said I don't know how you do what you do. But it wasn't like that. I've never been go-go-go. I've always been somebody who wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus and be left alone.

Speaker 2:

That's terrible to say that way, i'm probably more the Martha and you're probably more than Mary.

Speaker 1:

Definitely, definitely. But when I look at, like this week, i had to look at this. We were going to assign this to our community members who participated in the challenge. I had to look at okay, what am I asking these folks to do And is it going to be hard for them And why is it hard for me? So I really had to begin to look at that. And when I have to be honest, i have to be honest, i know my intimacy with God deepens when I take time for stillness. Still, my mind, still my heart, just shut up, shut up And yeah, to put it plainly, yeah and receive from him whatever he may or may not, i mean, he may not. There's some things that make that hard. One is I tend to wonder well, what if he doesn't say anything to me? What if I don't hear from him? What if I'm clueless about what that even sounds like? And what if it diminishes my faith and trust in him? What if? you know it? just, instead of building me up, it's like what am I not good enough to talk to? You know, and I, you know, even though I know that's all filled with lies. That's where I tend to go. It's going to be. You know, if I just listen for him and get nothing, does that mean there's something wrong with me, you know? am I not good enough? All of those thoughts? And I don't want to identify with that reason for struggling with stillness, christina, at all. Or is yours just all about your temperament and stuff?

Speaker 2:

There are times when, well, okay, to be honest now I'm thinking. There are times when I'm not sure I want to hear what he has to say. Okay, because I don't worry so much that I won't hear him. Sometimes I worry that he's going to ask something of me that's beyond what I think I can do or what I'm comfortable with, that's outside my comfort zone. He often does, yeah, he does, and when you know, a lot of times, a lot of times, god's best for me is not what I would choose.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And so you know, he knows, in his wisdom he chooses certain things for us because he's looking with his perspective, you know what's going to grow for Christina? What is going to challenge her in exactly the way she needs? What is going to draw her close to me? You know these. I mean I'm just guessing, but from the word of God, these are some of the thoughts that God seems to have, and so when I'm over here asking him to make things, easier. You know, and he's over here challenging me. Christina, I need you to step out in faith and do this, and I'm like oh Lord. So sometimes that stops me from being still. I'd rather just keep going and do my life and check off my to-do list Right And ask God what his to-do list is for me.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So that might be another reason that other people struggle with. It is, you know, rather than being afraid necessarily, that they won't hear from him. They're afraid they will hear from him and be asked to do something For me. I don't think that I can't identify with that in the same way that you just described, but another, probably bigger reason for me to struggle is in the silence. It's not just God that I meet, it is my fears, my demons, my personal demons, the heartache that's there sometimes, the sense of rejection, not by God but by others who have been so dear to me. I feel it's almost like when I am totally quiet, when I stop being busy for a while. That is when I'm left with who I am and what has happened in my life, and rather than, which I think is part of the point of stillness, because God wants me to bring those things to him. And if I'm always so busy that I don't bring them to him, that's what can cause me anyway to turn to counterfeit comforts, and it can actually cause me to partake, if you will, in destructive coping mechanisms If I instead bring them to him in stillness and leave them there and just quietly wait. Oh my goodness? Do you remember the story, Christina, speaking of Martha and Mary, where Martha and Mary, lazarus, was sick. He was living, but he was sick and they sent for Jesus. You know, the one you love is sick and may die And Jesus stayed where he was for four days. It's like what are you kidding me? And can you imagine how they felt that Jesus did? And even the disciples? they must have thought what are you doing? You could go help him, and when he did go, lazarus was in the grave. And it's like there are times when God is silent. I mean, that's an example of it. But as we know, in that story it was for a greater glory, it was so that people could see the power over life and death that Jesus had, and it was a big deal for people recognizing his power. And so I like to think that if God doesn't answer me the way I think he should, in the heartache, in the pain, that it's because there's a greater glory coming. There may be no answer, and rather than letting it diminish my faith, i want to cling to him all the more and know with confidence that he's coming. It just may be another four days or another four days or another four days, but know that he will come with his glory. He has a plan. Do you think of any other reasons why it might be hard for people to welcome stillness?

Speaker 2:

Yes. So here's another one that I've been thinking about. When I am still, oftentimes this is when big emotions come up. So I miss my parents. They're both in heaven now. I miss them And so I'm grieving them, but as long as I'm busy, and if my mind is busy and I'm doing this and that and I'm fixing this and preparing this, and as long as things are happening, i'm not really thinking about missing them. But grieving, of course, is important to God. That whole process of grief is actually important to him. It's a healing process, but it's hard And it doesn't feel very good when we breathe. But and so if I find myself still before the Lord, i might be thinking of all these other things that I want to bring to him, and then I quiet my mind and all of a sudden I'm grieving and I'm crying and I'm feeling those huge emotions about my parents or about something else that's challenging in my life, like you said, heidi, a heartache or something else, a fear, like you said, and so those things tend to come up, not always, but in stillness, and then I think I don't have time to be emotional right now. In five minutes I need to go do X, y and Z. But again, god's priorities are a whole lot different than mine. What he sees as important is a lot deeper than what I often see. I say, but I have to go do this. And he says, christina, you haven't grieved with me in a while. Let's grieve together so I can help heal that hurt in you. But it's hard and a lot of us don't want to go there. We would rather just keep going and going and going in our lives. And then we say I don't have time to grieve or I don't have time to feel, but we're really choosing that.

Speaker 1:

And we're choosing the stuff because we it's. It's. It's buried alive, like the hunger within books says by Judy Halliday. It's not dead, it's buried alive And it's going to come crying out and we're going to have to shut it up again. And we do that by stuffing our faces with food and numbing out or or sometimes other, even more destructive coping mechanisms. So when God I mean I'm speaking to myself now, i'm preaching out myself because I am really bad at feeling. Christina is really good at it. She will make an appointment to feel with the Lord and she will intentionally walk headlong into a sad place Like the Alzheimer's center, walking around the pond to remember her parents and and let her tears fall. I, i am chicken of that. The thought of that makes me anxious. I break out into cold sweat. Oh my gosh. But it probably, at least for me, i'm sure it would help if I was intentional in some way To do some of my grieving very intentionally with the Lord or to process my grief. I'm not going to be a part of that, i'm not going to be a part of that, but I really want to do some of my grieving very intentionally with the Lord or to process my sadness about things with him, intentionally, i mean I do in the moment. When something comes up, i'll take it to God. Blah, blah, blah. And that's kind of how I act. It's like okay, i've checked that off my list, now I will move on. It's like but that's not the way it works. This week, for instance, i've been grieving a lot About this friend of mine who passed. He was a coach, a mentor And a ministry partner And it's like, wow, i didn't, i didn't. I have never felt this way about somebody. And and it keeps coming up, i know I probably need to do a Christina and intentionally go into it headlong and just be with my tears, be with whatever God instillness with him and just let him meet me there with not with my Bible open or my journal open, which is my tendency. I want to, you know. After all, that sounds so spiritual, doesn't it? Yes, yeah, i'll get my Bible out and turn to a Psalm and I'll journal through it, and that'll comfort me. But you know what? I think God wants me to be still, still with whatever he greets me with, all right. So we've talked about some things that make it hard. Do you have any other, any other thoughts on things that make it harder to be still with the Lord?

Speaker 2:

One thought that came to mind is that sometimes, when I allow myself to be still and I allow myself to really hear God, i feel like I'm going to somehow become consumed by my emotions and I won't be able to jump back into my day and all the other things I need to do. And so then I'll think well, you know, maybe on the weekend I'll carve out some time to be still, but it doesn't really happen. I need to just go ahead and trust that he's going to meet me there and I'm going to be okay. It's not going to consume me, it's not going to eat me alive. I will be able to stop crying and I will be able to continue on and trust him in that. I love what you said, heidi, about making an appointment, and I do think that that is so valuable, as long as we're not pushing it off to never, never land. No, be intentional about it, Yeah being intentional, making an appointment and saying okay, you know, i'm going to be alone in my house next week Tuesday in the evening And I'm going to make an appointment with the Lord. I'm going to have about an hour and a half and I'm just going to be with him, sit with him, talk with him.

Speaker 1:

I'm getting anxious. I need to say something about that. It's so crazy. I'm sitting here going no, no, Oh man, I have a lot of work to do.

Speaker 2:

Well, but, heidi, you have taught me so much about this. I know that you're thinking that's not true, but you have been the one who's taught me about stillness and about mind renewal, and taking these things to the Lord, asking him for his thoughts. This is all things that I've learned from you.

Speaker 1:

No, i think that you've romanticized how awesome I am. That's another story. No, no, no, it's, it is.

Speaker 2:

You've made me a legend. One of the things that you've said to me so many times is can you carve out a little retreat for you and the Lord? even if it's 20 minutes, even if it's five minutes, maybe you have an hour or two. That's amazing. Some of us do have time like that here and there, especially if you're retired or in a season of life where you're not taking care of a lot of people. But even just carving out 20 minutes and you call it like a retreat with the Lord, you know, involving praise and worship, maybe some music and, yes, stillness also. I feel like that's something I've learned from you over and over, heidi.

Speaker 1:

So let's kind of continue on that theme. For the person that knows stillness is not comfortable or easy or whatever, what are some strategies that they can use? I'm making an appointment might be one of those in order to begin to nurture a heart that can be still, a mind that can be still in their lives. So for me, one of the best tools I ever got a hold of was the One Minute Pause app by the Wild at Heart, john Eldridge people. It really boy at first, one minute and it's not truly stillness because he's talking, so it's like cheating but it's a great tutor, so it kind of tutors me and I remember when I first did it though in the one minute seemed like an eternity And then I graduated gradually until I got to 10 minutes and so I can do the pause app at the 10 minute level. It feels like not truly stillness And so, but that is a good baby step, kind of an in between to go from nothing to true stillness. So if I recommend that, if anybody wants to look into that, what are some other things that we can do to take steps towards being willing and why maybe we should have started with this? Why should we?

Speaker 2:

Why should we take steps? Why should we be still? I mean, what's the big deal? Yeah, what is the big deal? Well, God tells us to.

Speaker 1:

That's probably the biggest deal. Oh yeah, Psalm 4610 be still and know I'm God.

Speaker 2:

Be still and know that I am God. He didn't say in your busyness, know that I am God. He didn't say when you finish your to-do list, know that I am God. He used the word still.

Speaker 1:

And it says see striving in other translations Yes, whoa.

Speaker 2:

I know it's so challenging to be still, but he's very specific. He shows us to by his own example. He would often go off when he was here on earth by himself and go be with the Lord. Was he being still before his father in heaven? I mean he? that was a huge priority for him. He would say Nope, I can't do it to hundreds, thousands of people sometimes And they would say we need healing, We need this, We need that. Where are you going? And he would say you know, I need to go be with my father, I need to be alone, I need to be in that stillness. So he showed us how to do that.

Speaker 1:

He carved out time. He made an appointment, didn't he?

Speaker 2:

And it was more important than all the needs that were pulling on him. I've often wondered was that hard for him? You know, people were pulling on him and tugging on him and his disciples were like what's, what's coming next? Should we prepare lunch? Should we do this, you know? and and then all the people that needed healing that were lined up and he would walk away and say I need to be with my father. Wow, that just blows me away. I mean, i think if it were me could I do that, but it was that important to him And he made sure that it was in the scripture so we could see that and see that he was that way. So, it's important to him And, as you said, heidi, it's that building of intimacy with the Lord. I think that we can only get to a certain place in our intimacy with the Lord, a certain depth, if we are never still with him. If we are always moving, always talking, always thinking go, go, go go, and we are never still before him, or very, very rarely, i think, we can get stuck there and our intimacy doesn't continue to grow.

Speaker 1:

We get stuck Right And I think that, yeah, i think the corollary is also true, which is, if my intimacy with God isn't deepening and growing, i will. If I haven't been, i will revert back to those counterfeit Comforts and those destructive coping mechanisms, because my heart is longing. It was created to long for the Lord. It was created to worship him. It was created with a God shaped hole in it, and if I'm not building that intimacy to have that constantly filled, i think I'm going to turn elsewhere to all of the counterfeits that are out there, and I don't want to do that. So that's certainly another reason that we want to be still with him is I mean, he commands it. We've said that be still, know I'm God. And Jesus gives us an example of it And we can, and if anybody needs texts for that, just turn to Mark, chapter two, and you'll see busy, busy, busy, busy, busy Jesus, and then he pulls away. We know that his example is one that we want to follow as well. So what are some other strategies? okay, making an appointment was one of them. Using the pause that might be helpful in getting started with a stillness practice.

Speaker 2:

What else might?

Speaker 1:

help people overcome these hurdles we've talked about.

Speaker 2:

And this is something that really helps me because, as I said, I am a work in progress and I struggle with this. Always I start with breath prayers, which are scripture or a truth from the Word of God, a truth about God, a truth about me and my identity and my life. And I try something like that, usually something very short for me anyway, i start with breath prayers and I will explain what that is. So, for example, i have Romans 1533 in front of me the God of peace be with you. But I'm going to analyze that so that it's about me. So I'm going to say the piece of God is with me. Okay, that's it. And really isn't that? what we're all just wanting so much in this life is some peace. I mean, how many of you out there I know that I struggle with Lord. I just want some peace. So that's why I chose this first, because I think that we can most of us, identify with this. So, the God of peace be with you. Okay, the piece of God is with me. So I'm going to split this up into two sections. The piece of God is with me. The piece of God is with me. So I'm going to breathe in. The piece of God and I'm going to breathe out is with me And, if you'd like, do it with me, breathe in and you can say or whisper the piece of God and then breathe out is with me. Okay, now, that's that's where I begin. But I am trying to get better and better at stillness, and so now I'm going to make my mouth still and I'm going to say these same words in my mind. The words are the piece of God is with me in those two parts. So go ahead and say those in your mind. Let's do it two times. So then, where I go after this, i go right into stillness, but it's not very long for me. Sometimes it might only be 15 seconds, and I am still with the Lord for that time. And then, pretty soon, my thoughts start to run away with me again and I go back to either that same verse or the same thought, or I choose another. I go through that process again, but this next time I'm going to be still for a little bit longer, maybe 30 seconds, and then I'm going to do it again, go through the process again, starting with the breath prayers out loud, and then the breath, prayers in my mind, and then stillness. Maybe I can get up to a minute, and over time this will increase. It's like you're practicing. You're practicing stilling your thoughts and letting God take over And, of course, you want to invite God in always. Before you begin, ask the Holy Spirit to help you, to be still and to help you to hear him.

Speaker 1:

I know some people might be thinking this. and are we teaching an Eastern meditation? is stillness different than emptying your mind?

Speaker 2:

Yes, it's completely, totally, absolutely different. What I'm going for, what we're going for, is what are God's thoughts? It's all about him. It's not about us. It's not about what is deep in my soul or what I'm trying to discover within myself. It's not self focused at all. It's God focused and spirit focused. I want to know what God's thoughts are. I want to hear him, and if I'm not ever quiet, i may not hear him at the depth that I really would like to. So, yeah, the difference, i think, is self focused versus God focused. What do you think, heidi?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, i think that's an important distinction And I think for me, when I'm thinking of stilling, my mind it's from the grocery list that's running through my head, or the errands I need to run, or what so and so said to me earlier today, or whatever. So those thoughts I'm stilling, but I can have any thoughts that I want to have. speak like for me, one of my favorite breath prayers is speak, lord, for your servant is listening from the Old Testament. I love that because I am looking to him and I'm praying his word back to him, like you were giving an example of. So yeah, it's very different than my understanding of Eastern meditation, which is you've got to really be emptying yourself. I do think to that when we find ourselves thinking about the shopping list again, we can just, rather than condemning ourselves, which I know a lot of people do. Yeah, we can be. Thank you, holy Spirit, for bringing my attention to the fact that my mind is wandered, so I'm just going to come on right on back and I'm going to again do the breath praying, like you were saying. It's because it's the Lord that's drawing our attention to it rather than condemning. Let's rejoice the thanks for drawing my attention to that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, i think that's so important that we don't put ourselves down and condemn ourselves for not being able to sit still and sit quietly before the Lord. I mean, it's something that he asks us to do, but we can start small. It's totally fine to start small and build it up. I think you will enjoy it more and more. And if you have trouble, that's okay And Holy Spirit in, you may want to put your hands out, open, like use your body a little more. You may want to put your hands in the air. You may want to sit a certain way or, you know, go in the backyard under a big tree or whatever it is. You might want to kind of set the stage a little bit Right. It's special and it's intentional and you're using your body as well. I love that There's body mind and spirit.

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, we hope that something here has been encouraging and helpful and practical that you could use today to deepen your intimacy with God through stillness.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and we're so glad that you've been with us today and we will see you next time on our podcast Revelation Within on Monday Night with Girl. Bye. for now, bye-bye.

The Challenge of Stillness
The Struggle With Stillness
Strategies for Stillness With God
Deepening Intimacy With Stillness