In the momentous and the mundane, in chaos or quiet, God’s there. For He’s incapable of abandoning you.

I was housesitting for my sister and noticed a book on her bookshelf with an intriguing title: Beginning to Pray. I wasn’t a beginner. Decades earlier, my Mom had routinely tucked me in at night with a prayer. Still, the book called to me. I began reading the story of an older woman who visited her priest with a sad story. She told him, “I have been praying all my life. I go to church regularly, but I have never felt the ‘presence of God’ that people talk about.”

The priest gave her what she thought were strange directions: “I’d like you to go to your bedroom and sit in your favorite chair. Don’t worry about praying. I want you to sit before the face of God and knit.”

When the woman returned to the priest, she told him, “After knitting for a while, I began to notice how quiet it was. How very, very quiet. I listened. Then I realized the Silence was a Presence.”

“The Silence was a Presence.” Sitting in my sister’s living room, I turned the book face down on my lap. The woman’s words surrounded me with truth. I sat before the face of God in the quiet of the room. And soon, I was enveloped in a sacred stillness.

Fast forward a decade. I’d read many more spiritual books and was hungry for the unique unconditional peace of God’s Presence as I sat in my own home, intent on praying. My seven-year-old wanted to show me how he’d memorized a limerick. Three minutes later, my five-year-old needed a band-aid, and soon, my one-year-old was howling because his walker was stuck on the edge of the coffee table. “God, if this chaos wasn’t in the way, I could meet you in the silence.” An inner wisdom—that wasn’t mine—spoke, “The chaos isn’t in the way. It is the way.” Our daily path, with all its obligations and twists and turns, is a sure route.

I still value silence as a vehicle to God, and I do my best to find it whenever and wherever possible. As Rumi said, “Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” But when it comes to meeting God, you and I can trust God’s wisdom and intense desire to be with us. If you want a relationship with the Spirit, who is literally your Soulmate, God will provide. If you want to want it, that will be enough. God’s Grace is always enough. And it’s Raining Grace!

Today, be aware.
God’s Life floods your heart.
It’s always Raining Grace.

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Books by Sally

Many of us have more or less sworn off “drama.” We realize some people manufacture torment in their lives and relationships because it gives them something to do, enemies to fight, problems to gnaw on. We know there’s no need for such creative pursuits. There’s genuine drama in living. We inhabit a world where life and death decisions are sometimes demanded, where people fall in love, become gravely ill, choose between good and evil. It’s not an uneventful, boring life! So we can say “no” to unnecessary theatrics and live in (relative) peace. And we’d be wise to limit our contact with drama-kings and queens lest we become an actor on their stage.

But to secure real peace, we need to tune in to our interior drama, the conversations, confrontations, and battles within us. We may need to participate in this drama until things quiet down inside, in our minds. Exterior peace means little if, interiorly, turbulence reigns.

We earthlings grew up in an imperfect world. Our siblings and classmates weren’t saints, and our parents weren’t perfect. The voices of those early influencers still pipe up in our minds unless and until we’ve done some inner work. According to psychologist Donald Weaver, Ph.D., “We are each a committee of persons.” In our thoughts or self-talk, unrealistic demands from childhood are often still echoed by certain committee members. Many people have a relentless critic’s voice within, broadcasting their shortcomings.

More significant than the danger of feeling oppressed, stressed, and depressed is the danger of thinking the voice of the demanding bully is the voice of God. A careful reading of the whole of Scripture tells us that God is compassionate, not a judgmental tyrant. God is love (1 John 4:8 NIV). Spending time with God confirms that message in our minds and, more importantly, in our hearts. Surely God will challenge certain behaviors, but the voice that says, “You’ll never measure up!” is not His. Ask for God’s grace to discern what is of God. (Grace rains abundantly.) The inner voices need to be heard and some dissolved.

I had a reasonably good childhood, but (I tell myself) I’m sensitive. I made normal family dysfunction go a long way. At one point in my life, I discerned that I needed to be an involved, intervening parent to my somewhat trampled inner child, to stick up for the downtrodden within. I’d been more compassionate to other people in my life, a much more vocal advocate for them than I’d ever been for myself.

If you adopt the role of self-advocate and listen to your inner dialogue, you’ll become an encourager, a comforter. You’ll perform better when you’re not abused. Decide to give the heckled and harried inner person a break. Actively stick up for your harassed committee member(s). Make sure a new, kinder voice rings through and rings true in your thoughts. A time will come when just awareness of what is going on inside your skin will be enough. You will find the bully or bullies are full of hot air, and even a look their way is enough to deflate them.

The more time you spend with God, the Source of all compassion, the easier it will be to be loving with yourself. The human predicament being what it is, sometimes the “least of your brothers,” the one you need to have mercy on, is yourself.

When you have compassion for yourself, there is more serenity inside, a peace of the Holy Spirit that is greater than the peace this world can give. It’s time to bloom in the sunshine of self-love.

My prayer for you–today, be aware.
God’s Life floods your heart.
It’s always Raining Grace.