Sitting beneath a canopy of branches, under the Nebraskan skies, I slowed to ask Him, “What do You have for me here, besides a bit of retreat –besides a bit of impartation and deeper connections?”

Immediately I felt Him whisper:

I have rest that you can take with you.
I have sunshine and breezes and white-rocking-chairs-on-front-porch-talks that will slowly linger, sink in, take root.

I have surprises that you won’t yet discover for months, maybe longer. But you will be able to count back to now.

I have quiet and yet not silence.

I have joy and yet not shallow.

Yes. The way I made you is joy — but it is not shallow! Do not believe that lie. You’re meant to be contagious, to be light. You are meant to be love and to be joy and to be you. You’re meant to be a gift, to be an encouragement . . . to be an artist, dreamer, and friend.

So go! Create art in every way you can and dream big. It will never be big enough! And be a friend to all who hunger for truth and art and dreams-come-true.

And so I did. I boarded that plane back to home, and I leaned in to all the ways I make art. I was more intentional with my time, my heart, and my gifts. I remembered lessons and rest and Sabbath.

But then the long hot months that followed became unproductive and silent — eerily void of direction or what was next. God was not as chatty with me, and I didn’t love it. At least not in the beginning. But I learned to value the companionship of stillness.

For we learn in the silence, and we grow in the quiet, reaching down deep.

I’m finding that the quiet must be sought out. We must dive in to surround ourselves with it.

As I fight the busy life and bossy lists that our culture forks over and masquerades as ‘normal,’ God assures me again and again that slow is the new fast and calm is the new chaotic, that His Presence is the peace everyone is looking for.

When we pause to breathe Him in and exhale slowly, we let Him fill us up in the moments of quiet stillness, and we enter into this beautiful partnership of letting Him make us.

Oh, how He loves it when we let Him make us . . .

• When we let Him make us lie down in green pastures.
• When we let Him make us step out of the boat.
• When we let Him make us walk on the water with Him.
• When we let Him make us, and remake us, and remake us again.

He loves it when we let Him make us be still long enough for Him to fill us, refresh us, and make us new, to be more like Him.

In the stillness and the quiet, we learn to be more like Him.

I believe this whispered promise is for all of us.

You’ve felt it too, right? This call to slow . . . to be intentional and make room for a little Sabbath rest. To set aside a few minutes and quiet all the noise. For He meets us in all of our moments, but when we seek the still small spaces of silence, we find Him already waiting there.

No matter what season of life we find ourselves in, we could all use a little more quiet, a little more rest, a little more letting Him make us.

So let’s set a timer, sneak away, crawl out of bed, or simply turn over, turning it all over to God. Let’s give Him five minutes of quiet, early or late or sometime in between, and discover this beautiful partnership, as He waits for us to let Him remake us.

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Related: Savor a few moments of quiet with a cup of tea or cocoa in this beautifully serene teacup and saucer.

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