slow down!

so maybe God is trying to tell me something... this past week, the idea of 'slowing down' has come up multiple times!  Sometimes even I brought it up!  I should probably listen to my own words, right?  But really, who's heard of slowing down?!  I don't think thats very popular these days... which maybe thats the problem.

Satan has no power over my life.  But he is a schemer, he can steal my time.  I think that the 2 greatest ways he attacks us is by throwing lies at us & stealing our time.  Time away from the people we love.... time from the things we enjoy the most  & that refresh us... time from a good book... a beautiful flower... a peaceful walk... and most importantly time away from God & His Perfect Word.  How often does the day end, and you lay in bed thinking, "I'm too tired, I haven't opened my Bible all day, and I can't do it now either... I'll do it tomorrow..."  -the tragedy of stolen time; the root of stress.  

Are we really too busy?  Too busy for the One who saved us?  For the One who loves us more that we can ever understand?  For the One who promises He will never leave us?  For the One who gives us hope, real hope?

We go, go, go... then we stress... "I'm too busy! It's too much!"... We want so much, and we run hard after it.  We want to be wise & strong, but we don't have the time to pursue it.  But is that really what we want our life to look like?

I don't think so.

"Let me look upward to the towering oak & know that it grew great & strong because it grew slowly & well.  In order for the Lord God to counteract the incredible toll that stress takes on us, we must slow down."  

-Charles R. Swindoll

Looking at Psalm 46, Swindoll gives 3 very practical thoughts regarding this matter of God's strength through stress:

1.  His strength is immediately available.  Our trials are not superficial or irrelevant.  They are vehicles of grace that God uses to bring us growth.

2. God's power is overpowering!  Nothing is bigger than the power of God! 

3.  His power is not dependent on our help.  We're weak, remember?  You can't carry yourself through the storms; it's too much for you.  When will we come to the realizations that the blizzards in our lives are allowed by God?  Those threatening storms are designed to slow us down, to make us climb up into His arms, to force us to depend on Him.

[Excerpt from Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back, by Charles R. Swindoll]

Slow down.  Growth takes time.  We weren't meant to do it alone.  We weren't meant to run through life & not stop & enjoy the One who gave life to us.

Just... slow... down...

STOP!

*look it up yourself:

Isaiah 41:10

2 Timothy 1:7

Joshua 1:9

Psalm 27:1

Psalm 27:10