The one who lives under the protection of the Most High
dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1 (CSB)

The other day I told my friend, “Life is too short to do something that drains your soul.” This bit of truth rolled off my tongue easily that day because, in that moment, I was deep in the midst of a social media break. A growing restlessness in my soul, coupled with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, whispered to my heart that I needed to pull way back from the unending chatter of the internet. After trying to refill my tank with what a thousand of my closest “friends” had to say, God stepped in and invited me into a secret space — a sacred space, alone. With Him.

“It’s like stepping into God’s office to dump out all of my emotional garbage and let Him help me sort it,” I told my friend. We laughed about the visual, but one of the struggles I often wrestle with is my own eagerness to share with others what God is doing in my heart, in those private moments. When I make this mistake, I stop focusing on God, and start looking around at others. I start listening to their stories, quickly forgetting that just hours before, God was working out some of the kinks in my own.

This time, however, I stepped fully and quietly into that secret place with Him and sat there in my mess and endured the month-long unwinding of a great many knots in my heart. Instead of anxiety about stepping away, I experienced relief. I came to God dirt-dry and found revival in His presence alone.

Surely there is a time for testimony. We are called to tell of His goodness and grace to all who will listen. But also we are called to the quiet, tucked-away place alone with Him, where the uncomfortable-but-necessary healing and growing can happen, away from the chatter and peering eyes of the waiting room. Alone with the Almighty, I tasted the sweetness of grace that could not — and cannot — be experienced anywhere else.

This message was written by Kris Camealy and appears in A Moment to Breathe: 365 Devotions That Meet You in Your Everyday Mess from the (in)courage community.