Come away with me

Time away is good. Time away is Biblical. However, time away is not meant for our entertainment, our relaxation or our laziness. Sometimes, we plan vacations and time away, but we come back more tired than when we left, because we fill our days with activity. Or perhaps we go away and do nothing, but because it was not rest for our soul, merely rest for our bodies, we come back to the rat race and it only takes 30 min for you to be right back in the same state of stress you left.
Over recent months, the Lord has been calling me aside and quite honestly, I am not good at that. But I have found in the coming aside, that I find His Presence and my heart is refreshed.
I wanted a place of no distractions, no people calling or beckoning me, nothing to draw my attention or entertain. So I found a place at the end of world and answered his call to come away with Him. Many times we go away and the time away is all about the food we will eat, the places we will go, what we will do or how we will spend our time.
With some encouragement, I laid aside my watch and my phone and walked away from them both. Setting my heart on heaven alone and choosing to let no one and nothing distract...Jesus and I had a date...
I spent long hours in the Word and in prayer. With praises ringing constantly from my ipod and nothing but the view of His creation out the balcony window, I found my heart being soothed by the stillness. And for the first time ever, I think I found some balance...the ability to be still and rest-not lay around and do nothing, but to seek Him hard and fast and still find rest for my soul.
We all have busy lives and busy schedules, people calling and voices that demand things left and right. Families are great and blessed and given by God, but they often drain us as we serve them. Church is precious and we are called to be a part of it, but we can often lose sight of Christ even in His house. Jobs are necessary and we must work as unto the Lord, but they often consume us and keep us from Him. And so, the Lord calls us aside. Not just every once in a while, but He calls us aside regulary for times of refreshing. (Acts 3:19) Times where we can repent and return to the Lord, find His presence and we can recover our breath and find cool shade in His shadow.
Sometimes that looks like an hour stolen or an evening of solitude. Other times, it might require a day away or a weekend removed from the world. And yes, this requires discipline, because the world, our jobs, our families, our lives will beckon us to stay, not go, keep going or try to coax us to engage in entertainment instead. But God knows...in the moment you trade time with Him for the pleasure of this world, that you will have joined the throngs of people who were like Eve...missing Him and end up hiding from His presence instead of lingering in it.
So, at the end of the world, I answered His call to come away with Him...and I was not disappointed. He was there and expereincing His Presence doesn't compare to anything this world can offer.
Jesus knew we would need these times. And thought people probably won't understand, it is both Scriptural and profitable.


Mark 6:30-32
30 And the apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.
31 And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while." (For there were many {people} coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)
32 And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves.

Jesus' call to us is...I have heard your cry. Life is busy and you have done and taught much. So...come away with me to a lonely place a rest for a while. And so they did. They went away with Him...
And we should too....go away with Him. It is His call and His answer to the crazy life. It is not vacation...it is not finding a place to go and spend time and relax...it is a place to meet with Him. Take a friend and go...Jesus told the disciples to come with Him...but it was with the intent that they would go and be with Him. (often we spend time with family or friends and it is all about being together with them and Jesus is just tacked on.)
Wouldn't it be awesome to come aside weekly and come away regularly with Him? It is what our lives are missing. It is the answer to the stress of life. Be still and KNOW that He is....

ALL FOR YOU