Your Refuge

Do you have a place of refuge you go to when you have trials?  Perhaps not even a trial but a place that quiets you and causes you to be still, listen, and think. Jesus had a place like this. In Matthew 26:36 it says, "Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  

I have a place that I go to whenever I feel I need solitude. Sometimes there are heavy things on my heart. Other times, I just long for the scenery and a quiet drive. I am fortunate that even though I live in a big city, I am 5 minutes from a very rural area. When I take my children to preschool, many days I will go on my "refuge drive" as I have come to call it. It isn't too far from their school and it is in the heart of farmland, gardens, a large lake, and tons and tons of pastures and greenery. Perhaps being raised in the country, I relate to it. The second I turn down the route, I feel myself become peaceful. I cannot tell you how many decisions I have made on that drive. Other times, especially spring, I open the sunroof and crank out some country music and just enjoy God's creation. To say this place and drive is good for me is an understatement. I think Psalm 23 reflects it best:  He restores my soul. My soul is at rest when I go. Not because of the location but because HE calms me.

Some days I find myself longing to get out there and once I do, I breathe deep and get quiet. Jesus  most always speaks in a whisper but I get so busy with life I forget to get quiet so I can hear. Many, many decisions have been made on that drive because there was silence and I listened for my answers. 

Quiet yourself today. As I type this it is calm in my home. The kids are napping and the snow is falling. I am always amazed at the magnificence of God when it snows. Job 37:6 says, "He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth...".  At His breath the snow falls. May His stillness be your refuge today. 

In His Joy,
Leeanne