A Place of Nothingness

The caller ID kept registering my friend's number. I was most certainly ignoring her call. She kept calling. Oy ve! I finally picked up the phone... not because I really wanted to speak with her, but because I love her and I didn't want to treat her in such a disrespectful way. She'd never do such an evil thing to me.

Me- I'm ignoring you.
Her- I thought you were. Why?
Me- I don't want to talk.
Her- Talk about what?
Me- You are calling because I wasn't at church, right?
Her- No, God put you on my heart last night and all this morning. I just had to call.
(She went on to explain that her family is out of town and they weren't at church either. I thought I was literally going to fall down. I have felt so isolated like God was not listening because I couldn't feel him. Being a single mother has been very hard. I shared this with her.)

I couldn't hear God, so He sends my Lizzy to let me know he is trying to reach me!
She called again tonight to let me know when she'd be back and to invite me over for our usual cup of coffee. I'm sure she'll pull out the Upwards game. I am so thankful for Godly friends and safe places God provides just in the nick of time.

I'm still feeling like I'm adrift and discombobulated. But I feel comforted knowing that when I can't hear God he sends me messengers to help me know He hasn't left me. Just as I sat down to blog these words, I noticed an email that has sat in my box for a few days. The subject line caught my eye. And so I'll leave you with its contents:

The Place of Nothingness
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman
05-25-2008

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

Do you find yourself in a place of nothingness? There is a time and place in our walk with God in which He sets us in a place of isolation and waiting. It is a place in which all past experiences are of no value. It is a time of such stillness that it can disturb the most faithful if we do not understand that He is the one who has brought us to this place for only a season. It is as if God has placed a wall around us. No new opportunities - simply inactivity.

During these times, God is calling us aside to fashion something new in us. It is a place of nothingness designed to call us to deeper roots of prayer and faith. It is not a comfortable place, especially for a task-driven workplace believer. Our nature cries out, "You must do something" while God is saying, "Be still and know that I am God." You know the signs that you have been brought into this place when He has removed many things from your life and you can't seem to change anything. Perhaps you are unemployed. Perhaps you are laid up with an illness.

Many people live a very planned and orchestrated life where they know almost everything that will happen. But for people in whom God is performing a deeper work, He brings them into a time of quietness that seems almost eerie. They cannot see what God is doing. They just know that He is doing a work that cannot be explained to themselves or to others.

Has God brought you to a place of nothingness? Be still and know that He really is God. When this happens, your nothingness will be turned into something you will value for the rest of your life.

www.churchgrowth.org