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being real, chilling, God's voice, Lazy Lily, peace, relaxing, rest, sanctification, truth
Lazy Lily (Photo by Sarah Schuberth)
Although I have been hell-bent on publishing a new entry for many hours, I gave up on counting how often I began to rewrite this article by changing the subject and deleting my former ideas which I had already explained. Now I am finally at the point of saying, “Lord, if you don’t really guide me now, I won’t publish ONE word. Amen.”
No idea left in my mind, no wisdom, and no interest in any particular topic. Just waiting on Him…..
HA! Now I’ve got an idea…….I guess. Um, well, to be honest, just two quotes. Here you are.
“Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.”
― Malcolm Muggeridge
Or in other words,
“When you find yourself swimming against the tide, you’ll discover the inner strength to persevere, if you’re working for your higher purpose.”
― Robert Alan Silverstein
Hmm…..While I have been caught up in the thought of either being a dead fish that automatically swims with the stream or a living fish that has got the power to brace himself against the tide, I saw a funny quote on a German site (if you like, see http://echtlustig.com/24122/weder-mit-noch-gegen-den-strom-schwimmen) that reads in English as follows,
Sometimes we should neither swim with nor against the stream, rather, we could simply come out of the river, sit down on the shore, and take a break.
And watch the river flow…
Okay, I admit that this only works for human beings, not for fish which urgently NEED the water to survive. But when I find myself clueless of what direction to take and powerless as for carrying on as before, why not having a break by breaking my self-made rules that say, “Susanne, you ought to do this and that, and then these and those things, and….”
No! Rather, Susanne decided to sit down and watch things happen without intervening as she did before. And indeed, I already feel that I am onto a good thing, gaining a real new perspective on life and on God’s ALWAYS quiet and peaceful guidance.
Alas, up until very recently the word “rest” had become a kind of foreign word for me. Even yesterday in the morning I found myself close to a mental break down as my hairdresser asked me,
“Mrs. Schuberth, are you stressed out?”
I was wondering at her question, but I confessed, “Yes, indeed!!”
“No need to worry”, she said, “it’s not that bad so far, but I must tell you that you have alopecia (*) once again.”
[(*) Just for explanation, I suffered from severe hair loss in the past when I experienced a lot of stress due to traumatic experiences.]
Yes, that was actually God speaking through my hairdresser who is a really kind and very pretty woman. Also, her tips to slow down my (too) busy life were quite helpful. In fact, God does not necessarily need Christians to speak through them. If we have our ears of the heart opened, we can hear Him talking all the time – through everyone in His whole creation. The only thing we must learn from Him is to discern the different voices speaking to us.
Entering the Promised Land 
yes Sue that is the truth–there are a lot of voices–and for years I have been concentrating on how to discern Gods voice over the others–I am convinced that you need to be at rest within your inner being and then listening is a lot easier–we have his presence living inside of us–we just need to focus on his voice and he will lead the way–man is it noisy around here.
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Ha Ha Ha ….. Oh Kenneth, you made my day by noting, “Man, is it noisy around here!” 🙂
“I am convinced that you need to be at rest within your inner being and then listening is a lot easier.”
Very well said! Thank you!!
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Susanne, it was good to read about how you have been laboring to enter into our Father’s rest. I first was shown Hebrews ch. 4 by The Lord in 1973 after working myself to a frazzle under a “Christian taskmaster” for years. I showed the passage to him and he said, “We rest when we get to heaven! Now we work!” So we labored three more years under this man until both my wife and I were in deep depression.
Obeying the leading of the LORD is the key. HIS sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The burden of religious doing is never light.
Paul told the Greeks about relationship IN Christ. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” THIS is the key to our rest and the works we do. We are called to be spiritual BEINGS IN CHRIST not human doings of our own driven works.
Remember, even salmons as they strive to get back to the waters of their origin, rest from time to time in the slack waters of the streams.
Love you IN Him, my sister!
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It is funny that you mentioned salmons, Michael, since I had actually considered to write about them in this post and to choose a pic with a salmon bouncing out of the water. But then I dropped the thought because I could not identify with that frisky fish, thinking, “Oh, how exhausting to really JUMP out of the water at that! Not for me right now.” I am still on my way to recovering by finding some rest and, alas, I have been falling out of it time and again. I even dropped prayer at the moment because I felt that God wants me to do nothing that could stress me in some way or other.
I was really running in circles as to everything I did like a hamster in his wheel. Even sports and prayer could not alleviate some of the strain – quite the contrary. I felt my heart beating much too quickly night and day. And although I prayed for days that God would help me out, the situation got worse and worse. I could not help myself although I clearly saw what I should have done, or rather ceased to do – I COULD NOT DO ANYTHING WHICH I HAD WANTED TO DO. Too weak, no strength, no decisiveness.
“Spiritual being” instead of “human doing” sounds good to my ears, my brother, because I have no power left TO DO something, neither for God nor for others.
Love you in Him too, Michael.
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I enjoyed reading the post and the replies. We probably could spend many hours discussing Heb. 4, and still not be in His rest. I laughed at the brother’s reply to Michael “that we rest in Heaven”. I can envision that if we don’t learn to rest here, then striving for position in Heaven would be worst than it is here. Striving for position is not restful. Comedy, so often, is built on people striving for position. I so identify with the striving – that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Repentance is my cry.
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And I really enjoyed reading your response, Pat. Thank you sooo much!! Perhaps you’d like to join me in my STOP STRIVING SURRENDER.
😉
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Sign me up.
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I’d love to!!
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