Quiet Time

This morning, as I was having my 'quiet time',

I began to think about the term 'quiet time'.

Over the years I have really struggled to

make my time alone with God a consistent thing.

As the girls were growing up,

life was anything but quiet!

As the sun peeked over the horizon

the day began and straight away the cares

of the day began to press in.

A baby needing to be fed, a toddler crying,

dishes to wash, baking to be done,

and pretty soon that much needed time alone

with God was pushed aside and the

distractions of life took over.

I was always searching for that elusive 'piece of quiet'

to sit and calmly take in what

God wanted to say to me for that day.

But, over the years I have come to realise

that it is "God that supplies the quiet,

we just need to supply the time"
(I read this quote in an Emilie Barnes book and rephrased)

God doesn't expect us to come to Him

with a quiet spirit in order to have a quiet time.

We come to him with our cup overflowing

with confusion, worries, troubles, disappointments;

and He graciously and lovingly

pours it out and fills our cup with

His peace and love and joy.

He knows that life is busy and sometimes

we're overwhelmed with our to do list.

But if we would just stop for a moment,

give God some of our precious time,

He would bring the quiet that is needed

into our hearts.

Our quiet time is a gift from God,

not a gift from us to God. He wants us to come

alone into His presence and bring our cares to Him.

The quietness comes from our relationship

with Him and coming to Him and letting Him

rearrange our thought processes.

He calms the inner storms and brings

His peace that only He can give.

Sometimes we only have 5 minutes to give to Him,

we pour out our cares and He pours in His peace.

Other times, we have an hour to give to God

and these times can be so beneficial.

We don't need to 'get quiet' in order

to draw near to God, we just need

to be willing to come to Him with a

humble heart and ask Him to bring

the quiet that we need so desperately.

I have found that often times, just going for a walk

and talking to God can bring a calm to the storm.

There can be traffic going by,

other walkers passing, birds chirping or

any other amount of distractions,

but there can be 'quiet' in that time if we

focus on what God has to say to our hearts.

Remember, it's often that still small voice

that we are listening for.

I know for me

when the girls were little, I would make excuses

for not having a quiet time.

It just wasn't quiet. I thought I had to have quiet

in order for God to hear me.

God hears us even in the middle of a cyclone

and yes, sometimes it felt like that kind of chaos.

It's a heart issue. Bringing our hearts

in tune with God.

Waiting on Him. Having an attitude

of humbleness and meekness. In the middle

of all the clamour, calling out to Him

to bring His peace.

I am blessed now

to finally be able to spend that hour alone

with God, without distraction, but oh

what peace I could have enjoyed if only

I had realised that I needed to

give God my time and

He would have brought the quiet.

Psalm 107:28-30

 Then they cry unto the Lord

in their trouble, and he bringeth

them out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm,

so that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet;

so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.