Encountering God in the Stillness

Believers today are weary, striving and struggling to make the abundant life that Jesus promised, a reality in their own lives. They are running from church to church, conference to conference, buying book after book, and piling on endless activities, all in an effort to break through into what they hope will be that, “something more.” The “cart is before the horse”, the “symphony tunes after the performance”, and “the cake has been baked before reading the directions.” We are racing ahead of God, seizing the day and all of its opportunities in hopes that somewhere in the haystack we will find the “blessed needle.” We are missing that “one needful thing” because we are distracted by the many.
Oh, how simple our lives could be if we would clear away the noise and distractions, but we have become so accustomed to “noise” in its various forms that we don’t always recognize it until it is conspicuous by absence. The North Shore story is a story about seeing and hearing God, when all of the noise is filtered away by solitude. For most of us, a life of seclusion is not an option. However, as the author discovered, we can bring the elements of seclusion into our everyday lives, by creating time and space to encounter God. When we clear the “noise” daily, choosing to sit at His feet, we will begin to see and hear God in our everyday lives, and when we encounter God, we are changed.
When we place out lives at His feet– anxiety becomes peace, fear becomes confidence, clamor becomes quietness, carnality becomes holiness, confusion becomes clarity, and sorrow is turned to joy. The abundant life is found by abiding. The author discovered the truth that– abundant life flows out of our encounters with God in the Stillness. The North Shore story is one of discovery– discovering the power of simply abiding.