Within the quarantine and COVID-19 season I’ve heard from multiple thought leaders, pastors, motivational speakers, and even found myself saying something along the lines of using this time to be productive, become better versions of ourselves, improve your relationship with God and others around you. I don’t know if you’re like me, but it oftentimes felt like I struck out at all of those things. No pity needed. It’s just been hard, harder than I thought to be successful let alone at peace.
Up until this past month we have stayed pretty locked down in the house, but decided we needed to get away from the noise of our world and for me, my own mind. I couldn’t shake that feeling that something was off or missing, and yes with the circumstances it was easy to point in the direction of those changes. But the something wasn’t the simplicity of subtle freedoms that were taken away to flatten the curve of the coronavirus. It was the fact that I couldn’t find time for myself and God. I didn’t feel His presence.
We hit the road for a long weekend. One morning I stood quietly, leaning against the railing of a dock overhanging Lake Erie. I was looking for a moment of peace, of silence, of searching when this thought danced into the mind. Most of the time we associate peace and rest with silence and stillness. But in Exodus 33:14 it says “The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
And in that moment I found God saying, “My presence is your peace.”
This peace, God’s presence, it travels.
It doesn’t take going to a lake, staring at the sunsets, or finding serene moments. It doesn’t take complete silence. It doesn’t take everything in your life to be orderly and perfect. It’s takes traveling and searching within your soul, not the world. God’s presence goes with you on whatever path and situation you find yourself in. It’s with you in the noise, the chaos, the busyness. And I needed that reminder, because when I feel like I’m lacking peace it’s when I forget He’s with me. You don’t have to stop to find God’s peace and you don’t have to grind to find His approval.
Trust me, you’re right where you need to be… and so is He.