Rest

Soaking in God’s Presence

/ Sandy Walker / Leave a comment

Lately it seems that the topic of Spiritual Soaking has been coming up a lot. Do you know what that is?

During the movement called the Toronto Blessing (back in the 1990’s), the Lord showed John and Carol Arnott that they needed to learn how to simple sit in God’s presence and “soak”. Imagine taking a warm bath – you fill the tub with warm water, add some essential oils or bubble bath to make it smell nice and then you slowly get in. You don’t jump in, immerse yourself in the water and then jump out. The point of taking a bath is to relax, soak in the warm water, let your muscles rest and your soul unwind. You breathe in the scent of the fragrant oils and just BE. There’s no rushing – the point is to soak until you feel relaxed and at peace.

warm bath

The Lord taught many people how to soak and it changed their lives. The movement started in Toronto and it spread around the world.

Here’s how I do it – I often do this alone, but I have also invited people over to my house for “soaking sessions”.

First I prepare the environment where I will be soaking. I pick a quiet room in the house. I remove all distractions (i.e. turn off cell phones, televisions, etc. and notify family that I don’t want to be disturbed for a while). I close the blinds or turn down the lights so that there are no bright lights in my eyes. I put on something comfortable – sweats and a t-shirt.

Next I choose some “soaking music”. There are many musicians that specialize in soaking music. Some of my favorite are

Julie True – Spirit to Spirit is my favorite right now

Alberto and Kimberly Rivera – they have many soaking albums, most are “live” albums

Laura Rhinehart – her music is “deep” water

Happy relaxed woman resting on a couch at home with arms in the head

Then I sit in a comfortable chair or lay down. I close my eyes and let myself relax. It usually takes a while to get my mind to settle down. I take several deep breaths slowly and try to quiet my thoughts. Then I just let myself BE. I just sit there. I don’t specifically pray or worship. I am just waiting in the presence of God – I open my heart to Him. Often I will begin to feel the presence of God around me. The soaking music is uniquely crafted to help you “tune in” to God. I focus on God’s Presence. Just like being with another person – I focus on HIM and not me. 🙂 I often ask Him to increase my awareness of His presence and He does.

It is very relaxing and it restores my soul when I soak. I highly recommend it. If you’ve never done it before, give it a try!

It’s okay if you fall asleep – it’s the intention that matters. 🙂

Looking for more? This article appears in a free ebook called Intimate Relationship with God – you can download it here. 

Do You Make Time to Play?

/ Sandy Walker / Leave a comment

DO YOU MAKE TIME TO PLAY?

I have been getting a pull in my heart/mind/spirit to DO less and BE more. That’s sounds like a contradiction, right? We are supposed to be doing MORE, not less! At least that’s what my “To-Do” list tells me every weekend. We keep putting things off, adding them to our mental to-do list and eventually it becomes a pressing issue that we need to DO the items on the list. I know this is a common struggle for most of us. Can you relate?

But this pull says to me, “Wait. When was the last time you just did something for fun? With no agenda, no to-do list, just enjoying the moment.”

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

As kids we have lots of “downtime” and very little on our to-do list. Especially in the summer when school is out, we envy children who have time to just watch the clouds go by, looking for funny faces and animals. We’re too busy to even notice the clouds on our commute.

RESEARCH SHOWS THAT ADULTS THAT TAKE TIME TO “PLAY” EXPERIENCE MORE ENERGY, MORE CREATIVITY AND A BETTER MOOD OVERALL. IT ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO BETTER HEALTH AND A SENSE OF WELL BEING.

HOW DO YOU FIND TIME TO PLAY?

Block out a 4 hour period during one of your day’s off. Don’t schedule anything. Turn off your phone, computer, tablet, television and any other media device. Do nothing. Let yourself get bored and then see what ideas come to you naturally. Boredom is a GREAT foundation for creative play. Then just follow your heart – whatever comes to you, DO IT!

This downtime will really recharge your soul. Some people enjoy it so much that they make it a regular habit. In the past when I had a really stressful job, I would block out my entire Saturday. I did not make any commitments to anyone – it was MY time. If I wanted to sleep late, I would. If I wanted to get up early and take a walk, I would. I could go to the park or the movies impulsively – just on a whim. [Yes, if you have kids you can still do this. Kids LOVE unstructured play. In fact, they’ll teach you how – follow their lead.]

The idea is that you need UNSTRUCTURED time to find yourself again. To find your strength and creativity – to let your soul out so it can stretch and climb and soar.

I challenge you to try this. Try it every weekend in July and see how much you enjoy the benefits. You might even be willing to sacrifice “normal” scheduled activities for this. You might be willing to get off the treadmill of doing MORE and instead enjoy the benefits of just BEING. [DO less, BE more.]

Let me know how it goes – I’d like to hear what you tried and how it worked for you. Everybody’s different – find your own rhythm. You owe it to yourself and those you love.

YOU’LL BE A HAPPIER PERSON IF YOU’LL TAKE TIME TO PLAY ON A REGULAR BASIS. 🙂

Return + Rest = Confident Peace

/ Sandy Walker / Leave a comment

The Lord keeps bringing this scripture to mind for me to think about. I thought you might enjoy thinking about it too.

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
But you would not. Isaiah 30:15

It really does “save” me (rescue me from stress and anxiety), whenever I remember to return and rest in Him. Rest that He has a plan that I cannot improve upon, that I don’t have to figure out, that I can trust Him to guide me and take care of everything that concerns me.

It really does give me strength to quiet my mind as I rest in Him. Trusting Him gives me confidence. When I’m worried about something, I tend to talk about it. When I’m trusting Him, I notice that both my mind and my mouth are quieter. That gives me peace and strength (conserves my emotional energy).

“But you would not.” – that tells me it doesn’t just magically happen. This is a choice I make. My will opens the doorway to this benefit of rest, confidence, peace and salvation from stress and worry.

Rest in God

This reminds me of quote I love:

“I dream of a people who know that their times are in the hands of their Lord.
They rest with confidence and full assurance knowing that He has laid a plan that they cannot improve upon and that He is directing their future.
So they rest in Him,
waiting for the sound of His voice
and doing with all their heart . . .
whatever is before them to do.”
– Don Nori, Love Shack

 

It’s important to know the sound of His voice – knowing when God is directing you. Do you know God’s voice? If that’s something you need help with, let me know. I offer Spiritual Mentoring to coach you through the process of learning to recognize God’s voice – it’s life changing to KNOW when God is speaking to you! Have you ever heard God say, “I love you?” It will melt your heart. ❤

If you get any insight from this scripture, feel free to comment below. This was mine today. 🙂

Be Authentic – It’s Powerful!

/ Sandy Walker / Leave a comment

Q54 Authentic is Priceless

This came to me the other night.

Just by being authentic … by being “REAL” and not fake or pretending to be something you aren’t makes a HUGE impact on those around you.

People sense authenticity. You can tell when someone is “real”, can’t you?

Somehow when you are with someone who is authentic – it frees you up. It gives you permission to just be YOU.

Since they aren’t pretending, that means they have accepted themselves. They are not trying to put on a show to get you to like them. They like who they are.

And somehow that self-acceptance translates to being free to be yourself with them.

And THAT is priceless.

The world is full of people trying to impress others – trying to fit in, to be accepted.

Rare are the ones who have stopped playing the game and have decided to simply accept themselves. With those folks, it does not matter whether you look right, talk right or even act right. You are allowed to just “be” – no performing.

What a priceless gift that is.

Thank you, Friend, for showing me that.

You deserve a break!

/ Sandy Walker / Leave a comment

You deserve a break!

When I woke up this morning, I heard, “You don’t have to think today.” Immediately, I felt relief. [Whew!]

I realized that we spend so much energy processing information that it makes us weary – mentally and emotionally. We “overthink” most things.

We plan our day based on what we need to accomplish. We rehearse the details to make sure we aren’t forgetting anything. We go over conversations in our minds – both future and past conversations – trying to figure out what needs to be said or whether what we said is what we meant.

We definitely “lean on our own understanding” a lot more than we realize. We are thinkers. We feel a sense of responsibility to know what’s going on in the world. We devour massive amounts of information each day – the news, social media, text messages, phone calls, meetings, etc.

Our souls are weary. We need a break!

“Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” – Jesus offers us rest (Matthew 11:28).

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)

God will take care of you, if you let Him. Let go of control through “thinking”.

Stillness is a gift and it is a choice. Stillness in your mind and emotions. We may not have much control over the external “noise” in our environment, but we CAN choose to quiet our minds.

How do I take a break?

Choose to not lean (rely on, support yourself) on your own thinking. Lean on God’s thinking – His ability to anticipate what you need and provide it right on time.

When you trust God to do the thinking for you (and anticipate what you’ll need), you are demonstrating childlikeness – a requirement for entering the kingdom of God, the place of peace and joy (Matthew 18:3, Romans 14:17).

Childlike Joy

One translation of “trust” is “careless” (without cares) and another is “bold”. So be “careless in the Lord” – that’s what society would say you are doing when you trust God to think for you. They would think that was being careless, irresponsible. So – be boldly careless. Can you trust God that much? Is He trustworthy to do your thinking for you and let you know if there’s something you need to do?

If you love God with all your heart, mind and soul then trusting Him is a natural next step.

You trust the one you love. However, if you don’t know someone well enough to love them, then you certainly can’t trust them, especially with “all your heart”.

Do we know God well enough to trust Him?

If not, why not?

Think about that. ♥