Shhhh, Sheri

My soul rests alone in God…Psalm 62:2
​

Lately life has put some big ole dents in my joy and I wasn’t feelin good about that, so I was trying to fix it myself and it clearly wasn’t working.  The wall I hit was when I realized my morning prayer chair had become my “tell God what he needed to do” chair.  I wish I could say I hit that wall and came to a brilliant solution all on my own but that would be a complete fabrication of the truth!  The solution to my dented joy problem was all him and it was both funny and fancy.

I use the Hallow App every morning as part of my morning prayer.  I love every single thing about Hallow and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it…the voices, the lessons, the prayers, the music ALL OF IT!! It teaches, inspires, uplifts, challenges and centers me in prayer which is great…until the day it wasn’t.  In the height of my “dented joy” phase, I woke up one morning just feeling completely discouraged, and downhearted.  Instead of sleeping, I had been wrestling with my thoughts, hurts and frustrations which I had successfully turned into mountains!  I got up really early and brewed some coffee, lit my candle, settled into my prayer chair seeking the peace of the Father.  As I grabbed my phone to click on the Hallow App it wouldn’t load.  I tapped the icon again and nothing.  I did not handle the glitch with grace!  The third try opened it up and I clicked on some very meditative music to settle my restless self and just as I was beginning to draw into prayer it stopped.  I went from zero to 60 in a nanosecond and got madder than a wet hen.  As I fumed there in my chair at 4:45 in the morning I sputtered out an exasperated “Great, I can’t even pray right these days” dripping in self-pity and drama!

Since I didn’t have my app and I was too fussy and overwhelmed to pick up scripture, I grabbed a tiny little prayer book and I flipped to the words, “If you want to be happy, if you want to be calm and peaceful, if you want your life to be filled with joy: pray.  Peace, joy and happiness are the fruits of SILENT prayer.”

I was stunned! I just sat there in silence in awe of how he reached out and grabbed my heart.  Sometimes he has a way of peeling back all the layers…even the good ones to get to the root. I was filling my ears and my heart with words and music that was wonderful, but what he needed me to do was be silent so I could hear HIM.  As I sat there, I realized that joy requires peace and peace requires prayer and prayer requires still and quiet.  After some more silence I asked him if he had anything else to say and I flipped to these words, “If you want to be a man or woman of God you must pray.  If you want to be a man or woman of prayer, then you must make silence a good friend of yours.  Silence on the inside and silence on the outside.  It is in silence that you will align your heart, mind and soul with God.”

In the silence, he helped me see where I needed to work, ask for grace and surrender.  He showed me how to let him restore my joy.  About an hour later, I returned to the Hallow app only to discover it wasn’t working because my phone battery was dead…his creative love never ceases to amaze me!
​
A Seed To Plant:  How about giving “silent” some attention this week…try starting with ten minutes of silent, still time with the Father each day.  For extra credit, get yourself a copy of Matthew Kelly’s book Mustard Seeds, Daily Thoughts To Grow With, which is where the two zingers that zapped the dents out of my joy came from. 
 
Blessings on your day!