Here I am, I have nearly made it--3 days remain of my Junior year of COLLEGE. Where the heck has the time gone? I feel like it was my junior year of high school just yesterday!
Can I just tell you how much of a sense of humor God has? Yesterday, the first day of finals week, the topic of my quiet time was rest. It was all about being still and trusting the Lord. This semester, nay, the past school year, has been a huge snowball of bad news. Stress, jobs lost, sudden moves, difficult classes, and money issues have just been the tip of the iceberg. So reading through this passage yesterday, coffee in hand, I found myself almost laughing at God.
Psalm 46:10-11 says,
"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."
So yesterday I prayed.
I prayed to be still.
I prayed to be reminded that God's got this.
I prayed that among the midst of the start of this crazy week, I can find peace. Peace in studying for my finals, peace in trusting that my dad will find a job, peace that I can slow down and take time to let myself seek out rest.
I have let the stress of this semester overtake my life and I haven't really allowed myself time at all to slow down and let God take over. When I am busy, I feel defeated. It makes me feel physically exhausted, emotionally drained, spiritually unmotivated, and socially empty. I begin to seek more and more of approval from others, and spend less time focusing on strengthening my relationship with God. However, this is why God instituted the sabbath in the first place--so that we would stop "doing" long enough to catch our breath and get perspective on all of those so-called 'important' tasks that we're busting ourselves to complete.
I feel like lately my mind has been racing a million miles a minute, with trying to figure out classes, a game plan for my life. But this reminder came at the perfect time: God's got this!
We are commanded in verse 10 to be still. God is in ultimate control. Do I always remember this? Heck no. Yet whenever I try to take control and lay out the perfect plan, I feel incredibly overwhelmed. That's because it's not my job.
How many times do you have to tell a young child to settle down and be still? Probably more times than you can count. They are probably able to stay still for a few moments before bouncing right back to running off the walls. It can make you feel frustrated, that they won't listen to you.
I imagine this is how God feels when he tells us to be still. It's easy for us to read Psalm 46:10 and tell ourselves, yeah, I can do that. Time to be still, that doesn't sound too difficult! Yet what are we doing once we close our journal? Jumping back right into our busy lives like the child who can't sit still. God is that parent telling us, his children, to be still. But we, like children, are too preoccupied with our "games" to listen to what He has to say.
Instead of remembering that God is the source of our strength, we rely on ourselves. And what is the end result? Exhaustion.
Matthew 11:28-30 says, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burden, and I will give you rest."
That is me in a nutshell: I feel burned out. Exhausted. Overwhelmed. But this is the key to an abundant life: come to the Lord and let him carry all of your burdens.
If you are a college student finding themselves among the midst of finals week over the next few days, take some time to pray and ask for stillness & peace. I promise you that when you quit relying on yourself for strength, you will notice it. Remind yourself that even in busyness, we can find rest.
