That’s when He said, “be still my child, for you have learned this lesson before.”

No, I did not audibly hear any voices saying this, but have you ever just felt an overwhelming sense of peace all at once? I can’t describe it, but as I was sitting there worrying about everything that wasn’t going how I thought it should, everything that could possibly go wrong and everything that wasn’t even in my control, I just suddenly felt calmed. It was like I ran into this brick wall that sat me down and told me to breathe again.

Y’all, we serve an incredible God. I cannot describe to you the amazing sense of peace he has provided in so many areas of my life lately.

As the summer came to an end and I headed back to Stillwater for recruitment, I came back looking for a change of pace and comfort in different surroundings. I got nothing shy of what I asked for when recruitment for my sorority got started.

Recruitment is something I have very mixed feelings for because it can become so worldly so quickly, I mean you’re literally meeting people and getting a first impression only to make a decision about how you feel about them, who you think they are and the image they portrayed to you. People deserve so much more than that 10 minute opportunity. But, my God proved once again to me that there is a lesson in everything.

How often do we make up our mind about people or situations before we ever even give them a chance? It is a proven fact that human nature is to make a snap decision about a person within the first 15 seconds of meeting them. There is almost no way around this, but there is a way around what you do with that decision.

You can either go with it and decide that is how you feel about them, or you can take it into consideration and then give them a chance anyway no matter what your initial judgment said. Have you ever thought about how differently we treat people based on our snap judgments?

I can tell you that if I walk up to a person and they seem cool from the start I am going to ask them questions that gets them talking, mostly out of true interest and wanting to learn more about them. Then there are the people that I may get a bad vibe from or just may feel that something is a little off with them, usually with these people I will ask questions in a way that gets them to answer in a way that reaffirms my judgment.

For instance with the person I think may be cool I will probably ask things like, “so tell me what you’re passionate about” or “what made you choose the field of work you are wanting to pursue?” Both these questions leave a lot of room for me to see their heart through their words. I would ask questions in such a way that they get to tell me things they are excited about.

The other type of person that left a little red flag waving in my head I would probably approach a little differently with questions like, “So, what’s your major?” or “What did you do this summer?” Do you see the difference in the two approaches?

With the first approach we are leaving room for them to explain and anyone is more exciting and likable when they are talking about something they love. The second approach leaves room only for simple answers and completely fact-based at that. This can very easily make a person seem boring and in a lot of cases unless they are super plugged into the conversation it can make it seem like the conversation dies after questions like this making it seem like you can’t connect with that person.

My point in this isn’t about the different ways I approach people and how some people are better at first impressions than others. My point is that no matter who the person is, the problem has always been with me and how I approach some people. When we give everyone the fair chance of showing true interest and the effort of wanting to try and connect with someone we get to see so much more of who they are.

Many times we try and frame a conversation to get simple one word answers that we had assumed from the beginning because we don’t want to be wrong. I know I certainly don’t like having to change my opinion because someone proved me wrong, so I have a tendency to not even give them the chance. This is so so wrong. To be quite honest I learned a lot about how I approach people and how much I underestimate people at times, but that wasn’t even the big lesson God gave me that week.

He took it a step further and brought to my attention to the fact that we do this with God and His Word sometimes. How often do we have preconceived notions about God and what we think He is trying to tell us, so instead of giving him a chance and the room to speak we limit Him?

Personally, at this time in my life I am dealing a lot with questions about my future and what the plan is for me. That’s fine, it’s ok to be actively seeking what the Lord has laid out for my life, but in the right way.

Recently I have had the tendency to ask Him one word questions so that I could frame the conversation into the plan I was hoping He had for me. Instead of simply praying and asking God to speak and guide me, then giving Him the chance to do that, I would listen for as long as I wanted and then start running in the direction I thought He was pointing.

I am not saying I feel as though I have misunderstood things lately, I’m simply saying I feel as though I keep trying to jump ahead and skip steps. Instead of letting Him tell me the story piece by piece, I allow Him to give me a piece and then I assume it is a part of the long-term end, when in reality it may only be a part of the bigger picture.

It almost feels like a dance. In this dance we call life God is the one leading and I am simply supposed to keep in step. A task that you would think should be simple, but it takes practice. This isn’t any type of dance that came with instructions, it is a waltz of learning how to read my partner and follow gracefully.

At this stage in the dance I had started to catch on and I was picking up on the signals with more ease, thinking that I was getting the hang of it. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s actually quite an exciting feeling to know that the steps have become easier and that they are coming more from a desire to follow my Leader than an obligation because I stepped on to the dance floor.

The problem came when I started trying to anticipate the next move and when I decided that the dance was routine rather than always progressing in new patterns. The way our God leads is not in a way that can ever be anticipated. He knows more than we could ever hope to about the dance floor, the surrounding atmosphere and even all the steps that are to come that we have not even dreamed of yet.

I know I am getting pretty deep into this metaphor, but I think it’s a pretty accurate description of where I’m at lately. I kept wanting the song to catch a beat and speed up, I kept wanting to jump ahead of God and move onto the next step thinking I even had a clue of what it was, I kept wanting to twirl around and do a spin when all that was necessary was another simple step to the right.

That’s when I felt the overwhelming sense of peace comfort me, telling me to calm down and let the intro of the song finish before jumping into a catchy second verse. He swayed me back to the place of being still and listening, pausing in the middle of the dance floor to refocus my eyes on Him.

Generally when we try to start leading or even just being in an equal place of control as Him, that is when we have to take our eyes off of Him to make sure we don’t stumble or when we are trying to look around to make sure we are keeping up with the others around us. That is where the problem lies, in trying to get ahead of ourselves trying to keep up with the world rather than keeping our eyes completely fixed on HIm.

The dance is simply beautiful when partners are in step and moving gracefully along the dance floor, but when one partner starts trying to change the dynamic by transferring control or get ahead of the other, things start looking clumsy and messy.

So as I’m sitting in the middle of the dance floor with Him worrying and stressing feeling everything crashing in around me, getting the idea that I am falling behind or that I am inadequate because I don’t know the next step I am reminded of the beauty in the mystery.

As I was standing and singing in church tonight, I was just so incredibly anxious about so many things that I wasn’t even truly focused on worship. That’s when the worship leader stopped mid song to read Matthew 6:25-34 and suddenly I was overcome with peace and all the anxiety and stress seemed to melt away.

You see, as I felt it all come crashing I realized I was looking around the dance floor comparing myself to the things of this world and trying to measure up to the unrealistic standards set by society. When I heard that passage of scripture it was just like it turned my eyes immediately back to the incredible God I serve and as my eyes were fixed on Him, the dance was able to continue on.

I’m rambling a lot at this point because I am having trouble even finding words to describe it all. I just can’t express the amazing sense of peace and calming that the Holy Spirit can provide if only we will let Him. I think we take for granted the idea that we aren’t supposed to know all the answers. There is honestly such a beauty in being so reliant on God that we have to wait for Him to tell us when and where to move. How comforting is it that your guide is already in the future waiting while also walking by your side?

I only hope that you can find the peace that I have in not knowing what comes next and learning to let God speak without limiting His words or cutting Him off mid-sentence because you think you know what He is saying. I can promise you that the dance He is leading you in is much more beautiful than any simple step your human flesh could dream up.

Let His amazing grace wash over you and bring you this overwhelming sense of peace as your standing in the middle of a crowded dance floor wondering what the next move might be. You won’t regret it.

Until next time,

~Em