Everyone is so busy—making meals, serving someone, taking kids to activities, running around, and talking to people. I see busyness everywhere. I can’t believe how everyone feels like. They engage in a conversation, but they hurry to go. They need to leave. They can’t be fully engaged because they’ve got their next thing right behind this one.
I have spent many hours sitting in a prayer room. One of the prayer rooms I have been sitting in has been going since 1999. They have worshipped and prayed to God for our nation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, since 1999. The moment you walk in there, you can truly feel the presence of God. You can tangibly feel it. My first day there, the moment I walked in, I almost fell to my knees and began weeping. It’s that powerful.
There is nothing more radical than stepping into a prayer room for the first time. You are in an unknown area. It’s like being in an ocean—you’re like, “Is a shark going to get me, or am I going to see a beautiful fish?” Am I going to like this or hate it? I don’t know. The first time, it is uncomfortable because you’re not used to it. It’s outside your comfort zone. Anything outside your comfort zone is uncomfortable. But if you truly allow yourself to pause, slow down, and stop the busyness long enough to step into a prayer room, remain there through the uncomfortable part, and sit and be still long enough—until you find comfort and peace—it will completely blow your mind and change you forever.
I remember one of the first times Spencer was in the prayer room. She had taken a bunch of activities in, and she sat there. She sat there for forty-five minutes, and she could do nothing. She couldn’t draw. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t do the activity. She simply sat there. She was in the presence and power of God, and she didn’t even know it. The first picture she finally ended up drawing was of a girl on her knees with her arms surrendered as high as she could reach them. It was beautiful.
Chandler had a similar experience. She got in there and couldn’t take her eyes off of the worship leader. She was mesmerized. It was as if she said, “Wow, I have found the most peaceful place on earth!”
If we are lacking peace because of our busy schedules, I believe the enemy wants to keep us so busy we cannot stop and renew our strength. Isaiah 41:1 says, “Be still and renew your strength.” God is talking to His army, and He is saying, “Hey, it’s in your stillness that I renew your strength.”
For me, I schedule stillness into my everyday calendar. People would ask me if I could do something, and I would say, “No.” It may be because I’ve scheduled my stillness. Although I am not busy with someone else, I’m busy with me. I’m busy with God. I don’t need an excuse bigger than this to keep my time and hold myself to it.
It’s good to schedule stillness in your calendar because busyness can sweep you away until you wake up and don’t know where you are. You are restless without peace. Schedule peace for yourself.
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