Silencing to Hear; Turning Away to See

Over the last few days, my heart has been wanting, so desperately, to be warmed by beautiful words. There’s a softening of my heart that I feel can only come through a poetry that pulls me closer to the heart of God. My heart needs to be moved. Inspired in a new way. I have asked Him for this, and today, He answered.

Like a flood, lyrics that have been long since deposited and hidden in the depths of my soul suddenly erupted to the surface. Hymns I heard as a child. Visions of the old, hard-back green hymnal in my young hands. I could almost smell the ivory colored pages (like I used to, as a child).

My heart is on fire, boiling over with passion. Bubbling up within me are these beautiful lyrics as a lovely poem to be sung for the King. Like a river bursting its banks, I’m overflowing with words, spilling out into this sacred story. Psalm 45:1 TPT

While I’m in a season where I’m preparing and listening for the new, I am also in a place where I am taking inventory of what I know to be true. True about God, true about me. That which has proven to be steadfast and unmovable in my life. Those things that have stood the test of time. All I know about who He created me to be, and what I am called to do. All that I take great pleasure in doing. The weight of that which is my responsibility and for which I will give an account, and the pleasure of that which is simply my delight.

I felt led to pull out plain, loose-leaf sheets of paper and began to write my own hand-written hymnal (of sorts) this morning. I captured the lyrics of the first few songs that came to the surface. They are lodged deep in my memory, but it was like dusting off old engravings and running my fingers across them again to feel the places they had first left their impression upon my heart.

I actually had to look up the full lyrics online, as some of the verses have escaped me. And as I did, I felt as though I was rescuing and mining these beautiful words from the chaos, noise, and clutter that is out there, all that fills our/my every-day. I cannot even go and copy lyrics without being bombarded by images, videos, news, advertisements, banners, all flashing, rolling, popping up. No, I don’t even care about who sung it best. I want God to hear it from me.

It was as though I was having to extract these words and draw them onto the safety of my plain, hand-written pages, with nothing else competing for their attention. It was at this point I suddenly realized my eyes, my mind, my heart need a break. I’ve always been careful of what I read, what I access. Who I “follow” online. Yet, it’s not only the content that’s important – it’s the pattern, the rhythm. The constant movement, flashing, static that I need to step away from for a while. It’s overwhelming and overly-stimulating to my senses and to my spirit. My heart and mind need to be healed. The canvas needs to be cleared off so that I can see clearly what God wishes to write or draw upon it.

So for now, this, my site, is the only place I feel like I can come and still share with whoever chooses to follow along, or stay connected (without us having to speak above the noise to hear each other). There’s a fence around this place, and I invite you to come in and walk these green pastures with me whenever you feel like stopping by. I purposely have my site setup to where no advertisements can come across my pages. It’s been that way for a good while, and that is 100% intentional. Picture our time together like you’re taking a drive out to the country and finding that house in the middle of a big pasture, surrounded by a white fence and lots of trees. I’ll be here. But for a while, at least, I simply cannot be “there”, amidst the crowd, amidst the noise.

I do hope you’ll tune in and stay in touch. If you aren’t already signed up to receive email notifications whenever I write a post, maybe consider doing that. Just click on the follow button on this post. I also do have a P.O. Box, if you wish to connect really old-school style. I kind of enjoy having pen-pals, honestly. Feel free to write me anytime (the address is below).

As I close, I want to leave you with these beautiful words that warmed my heart today:

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds, sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur,
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Linda G. Riddle
P. O. Box 90871
Raleigh, NC 28675