It’s time for another installment of the Unraveling Grace series. I’m excited to have the lovely Amy Dalke share her heart as we unwind in His Presence. Amy’s writing keeps me learning and laughing and for that I’m grateful.

Amy Dalke is a baseball mom, a Bible study teacher, and a wife who can’t cook. She has a tendency to be high strung (but is always working on that), and you see her every time you go to the coffee shop (she’s the girl in line ahead of you with the obnoxious order). Amy’s favorite obsession is helping you discover how awesome you really are in Christ. She inspires you to step out of the world’s mold, and to live in the one-of-a-kind shape God designed just for you.

Find Amy on her blog, Between the Bleachers & the Pew and also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Not that “Be Still” Thing Again!

I used to get all annoyed if someone quoted the “…be still and know that I am God” Bible verse to me.

You probably know the scripture I’m talking about because Christians like to put this verse on mugs, artwork, and greeting cards. Pride sometimes tricks me into thinking I’m too good for such a common Bible verse…so I turn my nose up at those “popular” ones (which doesn’t say a lot for my wisdom acumen, given that John 3:16 is a popular verse, too, and I definitely want in on that one.)

Nonetheless, over a two year period, there were countless times that people shared Psalm 46:10 with me:

Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

Their encouragement to “Be still” was notoriously coupled with suggestions and recommendations that I “breathe”.

{Thanks, y’all, but I’m still alive and kicking. Don’t you see me hustling and hurrying and accomplishing awesomeness all day long? Hello, I’m probably sucking in a lot more air than you are…because I breathe in a frantic rush from sun up to sun down.}

My friends evidently don’t recognize that stress and chaos are requirements of success. And after all, my Busy proves my Success, right?

Two solid years. Two years of cards, pictures, and plaques offering the same instruction:

Be still. Breathe.

And because God patiently waits out my foolishness far longer than I deserve, it only took me a whole two years to realize God must be trying to tell me something.

I’m the task-loving performer type—a tried-and-true, goal-setting-achiever. I want to do something to prove I’m worth loving, hiring, befriending, choosing, or helping.

I lived as though God saved me and all (thank you, Jesus). So now I should work hard to accomplish his plans for me (you know, so he’s not disappointed or anything.)

But, grace.

The grace of God reveals that salvation is not the work of a human. Neither is transformation. Any kind of work worth doing is accomplished solely under God’s direction, in the creative power of the Holy Spirit.

As the Spirit moved over earth’s surface in Creation, so the Spirit moves and creates new life and good works in us. Our pulse-racing performance pace is a soul-choking effort to earn what we already have, and the rush leaves no space for the holy creativity of God.

The Striving earns nothing but a heaping helping of stress and anxious toil.
But the Stillness ushers in the Life-Breath that sustains, empowers, and fills us for every good work into which God invites us.

Before you and I can enjoy a creative partnership with the Master Artist, we first have BE STILL and stop pretending that God is just a side show.

He is GOD. We are SO NOT.
It is HIS work.
HIS plan.
His WHOLE THING.

We miss the work of grace when we’re blinded by our busy efforts. But in the middle of a still heart, we can let go. Stillness is where the pretense of performance gives way to the mercy work of God; and the Creator unleashes his artwork in us.

When we slow our pace and drop our hands, we realize God can run things just fine without us. We gaze under the covers of our to-do list, and discover that all our efforts are empty without the Holy-breath of God.

So we let go, he brings life.

Where we once chased down opportunities, and pried doors open with our bare hands, we now find ourselves rich with invitations to join God’s work, right where we are.

Because it’s in Stillness that God moves through us.

That Be Still verse has grown on me (go figure.) I now choose to live in the rhythm of divine breath versus the chaotic beat of high-strung crazy. And though I’m prone to wander into busy, God continually brings me back to my breath.

God invites YOU to exit the mad freeway rush of a breathless world…and join him where the air is full in a holy space of stillness.

Taking deep breaths,

Amy

• What kind of Good are you striving to achieve in your own strength?

• What would happen if you were brave enough to be still?

P.S. Get caught up on the other posts in the Unraveling Grace series:

January:    Hurts, Hope and Healing by Jennifer Watson
February:  For the One Who Doubts God’s Sovereignty by Abby McDonald
March:       Beating Inflating Fears by Kelly Balarie
April:          When Life Unravels and You’re Barely Hanging On by Bethany Huff and Function in Chaos by Renee Griffin

P.P.S. Linking up with Suzie Eller for #livefreeThursday.