Devotionals for the Heart: Stillness

Be Still
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!” 

– Psalm 46:10 (ESV) 

“Be still...”

I heard the words but knew I was alone. I opened my eyes and scanned the empty room as I lay on the ER gurney with wires tethered all around my heart and a pulse finger oximeter strapped to my pointer finger. I felt my heart flutter and drop, as it had been doing for the past couple of nights. I waited but no one came through the door, so I closed my eyes again, trying to keep my pulse low. Something irregular was happening at home, mostly while I slept, and I wanted proof for the doctors to see because something felt off inside my heart.

“Be still and know...”

This time I heard the phrase in my head, but it was in a voice I recognized. God was speaking and now He had my full and undivided attention. “Yes, Lord, I’m listening,” I said and pictured Jesus Christ standing beside me. Then I felt a warmth, though moments earlier I had covered up with a blanket to block the room’s chill. I knew beyond any doubt He was in the room with me.

How did I know? How could I be sure what I sensed was really God? Because of over forty years of tested faith and coming through impossible trials. Just like the old hymn "‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" says, God had proven Himself to me over and over. In my current trial, He was reminding me all I had to do was “Be still and know.”

We all face situations when we don’t know. We immediately question what we should say or do. It’s hard to wait before acting or reacting because of our innate desire to know, especially when we feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. There are times when all we can answer is, “I don’t know.” These are the moments we choose to be the most truthful, and they provide opportunities for us to wholly trust God.

Not long ago I had a dear friend whose husband tragically died. I didn’t know what to say or do when I saw her for the first time after the loss, but I knew she needed something from me. I prayed God would show me what to do or say while she grieved in front of me. I sat and listened to her talk about anything and everything, waited and listened, and waited some more. Later, I simply sat nearby as she slept, even during the middle of the day. In the stillness I found my own comfort and peace. I felt God’s presence and songs of worship and praise came into my mind. The song called “Everlasting God” by Chris Tomlin reminded me that when I wait upon God, His strength will rise in me. God gave me the strength to simply be present—to be still—as I sought how to help my friend. I didn’t need to have the answers to her grief. 

In the same way, as I was laid up in a hospital room for over six hours while they ran tests on my heart, it felt like a mere few hours because I heeded His words to “Be still.” While I waited upon the Lord, I felt His love and peace flow over me once again. I rested, assured He was in control of the outcome because I relinquished my need to know what was going on to Him. All that mattered was my willingness and obedience to “be still” and submit to His will for me to know “He is God” – the one who will be exalted among the nations and in the earth!

What a peace it is to know the ruler of all things holds my heart securely in His hands!

Let's Pray: Dear God, thank you for always being with me in every situation, even when I am unsure of myself. Help me to be still and know you are God, acknowledging you are greater than my circumstances. Through your son, Jesus, you overcame the world and I know that same power will help me. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Question from Mirachelle: 

In what situations have you learned to “Be still”? Tell us about it in the comments section!

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Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia, where she teaches television production at her high school alma mater. 

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is an alumnus of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program.

Mirachelle is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, American Fiction Writers Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII.

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Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan

Testimony Time: Peter's story about the American Dream and God

Today, I'm going to share a story with you about how God radically renewed a man name Peter. No, not the Bible character (Peter, follower of Jesus Christ) but a current-day character (Peter J. Wenzell of Georgia, U.S.A.) whose life was transformed by God's love.

Enjoy!

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Peter J. Wenzell's story about how God transformed his life:

For the first 50 years of my life, I lived what some have described as a “charmed existence.” 

My formative years were filled with athletic success, as I played top-tier Jr. “A” and D-1 NCAA college ice hockey. These are leagues that are both very prestigious and are 1-step away from the NHL. As a player, you dream to play in at either level. The teams that I was drafted by were the Cornwall Royals, Detroit Jr. Wings, and I accepted an offer to play for the University of Michigan. Later years involved starting a small business from scratch that became very successful.

As my annual income increased to substantial levels, I was never one who had any problem whatsoever spending almost every penny of it on expensive material items like sleek sports cars and oversized luxury SUVs. Our main family home was in a high-end subdivision, in the “right” suburban Atlanta town. My beautiful wife Adele acquired an extensive wardrobe that filled to overflowing a large walk-in closet. The sheer volume of our kids’ toys, bikes, water skis, hockey equipment, and miscellaneous other sporting goods made it virtually impossible for us to park any of our cars in the garage.

I had successfully ticked most of the boxes necessary to achieve the American Dream. And yet, something was missing. To fill the emptiness, I turned more and more to alcohol. I knew I was steadily descending deeper into alcoholism. My excessive drinking was often accompanied by volatile, unjustified, angry outbursts directed at my wife and kids at home.

For years, I lived a shameful lie. Having at best a lukewarm faith in God, I attended church with my family once or twice a month, mainly out of a sense of obligation (I was what they call a “cradle Catholic”), or just to keep up appearances to help maintain the ruse.

Then the physical pain began. One day, I was unable to finish my daily six-mile run due to what I thought was a groin pull. But rather than getting better, the situation deteriorated so rapidly that between the ages of 50 and 51, I had five spinal-fusion surgeries and a hip replacement. Still, none of these highly invasive procedures resulted in even the slightest reduction in the severe, nearly debilitating, lower back pain that dominated every single second of my days.

Then, at a follow-up appointment with my doctor, the X-ray technician took an image of my upper rather than lower back, which revealed the real culprit of my agony — a spinal tumor. Nearly two painful years later, the tumor began to hemorrhage and I was scheduled for immediate surgery at the renowned Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

That surgery both saved my life and left me paralyzed.

As the surgeon broke the dire news to me, “Who I was” and my version of living the American Dream slowly dissolved right before my eyes. In that one gut-wrenching moment, I lost everything that defined me. After tasting the raw, genuinely fearful emotion of helplessness, I launched into a fit of rage, directed primarily at God. Why had He allowed everything in my life to be lost?

Over the subsequent days, I descended steadily ever deeper into depression and despair —sometimes to the point of contemplating suicide. In desperation, I decided to devote some of my newly acquired “spare time” to search for answers to life’s existential questions. My number one question was focused on finding out whether or not God and Jesus Christ were real. My gut feeling was they had long since been proven to be nothing more than ancient fairy tales or common mythologies. I naively believed that mainstream science – armed with the scientific method – had long since demolished the “god hypothesis” and the Christian worldview.

I spent months researching both sides of the issue, reading the arguments for scientific atheism as well as the works of Christian apologists. I also began to delve into the Bible, to see for myself what it had to say. It was a lengthy process, but through my research, I became convinced that science does not disprove the Christian notion of a purposeful, infinitely loving and supremely intelligent being. In fact, I found the theist’s arguments more well-reasoned and the facts in evidence more supportive of their premises.

I was beginning to believe that God really does exist and that He is who the Bible defines him to be and who Jesus Christ revealed Him to be.

Out of options, I decided to sweep together the shattered pieces of my broken life, and then I handed them off to God. But before I did, I wrote out and then formally confessed every sin I was directly responsible for and the negative impact it had on others. Almost instantly, I felt a lighter load, a freer, less chaotic sense of reality. A fresh start of understanding and forgiveness permeated the warm, glowing feeling of peace I was experiencing.

From there, it was as if I was gently lifted out of bed, caught up in the love of Someone or some Power so great and so pure it was something I had never associated with being part of a relationship with God. God, I discovered, was love! God is love!

My next move came more naturally than breathing the pristine air around me. I asked whether I might give myself to Him, as broken as I was. I told Him I could no longer bear the weight of all the sins, wrong living, purposefully hurtful actions, all the baggage that came with my alcoholism, the inability to accept my paralysis, and more.

The answer came immediately: “Is it not already lifted from you?” And indeed it had been!

So it was on bended knee (figuratively), I gave my life to Jesus Christ, devoting myself to serving Him in any way the indwelling Holy Spirit should guide me. I have woken up each day happy, and I go to bed each night with my inner void filled by the love and beautiful truth that comes to the broken, once saved.

Since that time, I have been hospitalized over 30 times due to various infections and other paralysis-related issues. My life as a paraplegic hasn’t been an easy one, but it was my suffering that caused me to seek God diligently. In return, He has given me a foretaste of Heaven, and I am now living in the warm, loving Light and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Pictured: Mr. Peter and Mrs. Adele Wenzell

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Peter J. Wenzell’s Professional Bio:

(2013-Present): Founder/Director of The Center for Quantum Consciousness & Digital Analytics (TCQCDA) in Cartersville, Georgia. (TCQCDA) is a research group which studies quantum mechanics and digital information’s role in creating our reality, specializing in QM’s role in consciousness and the digital simulation hypothesis.

(1996-2013): President/CEO of International Restaurant Management Corporation (IRMC) was a start-up firm for the management, design, and operation of branded franchised food courts, restaurants, bars, gift stores inside airports across the US.

(2000-2013): IRMC merges with MSE Branded Foods to expand its operations into airports. Sales grew to $18M per year.

(2010): Wenzell becomes paraplegic-chest down. This is the impetus to accept Christ and to conduct an extensive search for evidence of the Christian worldview he cherishes.

Present-Day: As a writer, Peter is a frequent contributor to Quora, and to various Christian blogs. Readers may email Peter at this address (pete.qcdia@gmail.com).