Listen to the Presence Project podcast, episode 27 here. Here in the Presence Project we’re…
A Gift from Linda: Chapter 1 From a New Book!
Dear Reading Friends,
It’s a joy to have you visit this space, set aside to lift the Savior up. YOU are the reason WE are here. We pray for you often. And we pray our writing will be a gift.
Have you noticed…..we’ve been writing about “Sabbath” often? In response to a visible need, we’ve turned our attention to helping you find “Sabbath spaces” to be alone with God. In a concentrated way. Call it TAWG (Time Alone With God). It’s easy to remember. We like to call it “Sabbath”. And it’s more than Sunday: it’s chunks of time anytime. It’s Sabbath Living.
In the coming weeks, we’ll zero in on what “Sabbath” time is, who it’s for, and why do it. We hope to make you thirsty for this life-giving practice as you open spaces for truly abundant life to enter.
Now, get comfortable, decide to spend a little “Sabbath” time with us, and be sure to let us know what happens! We can’t wait!
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“TABLE FOR TWO”
“All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.” I Cor. 7:32-35
Chapter 1
A Necessary Goodness
How does that sound! How does it sound to your soul? Alone, with the Master. Doesn’t it make you thirsty?
Most of us tend to lead lives of constant mental clatter. Conversation rattles incessantly around in our heads, our homes. Our techno-clutter pelts us with a sea of unquiet.
Alone. With the Master.
Our worlds are forested with the undergrowth of unchecked words and unnecessary information.
Music and talk shows careen carelessly through our coffee shops, infest our cars, our elevators, our lives in general. Buckets of television words follow us into hamburger joints and airport waiting rooms. Our world reeks with noise. We are, all of us, hungry for quietness…for silence…and most of all for God.
Sabbath time alone with God is vital to our noise-drenched selves. Devotional time is just a beginning…. just whets our thirst if truth be known. We need more. And we don’t take it. So lives skid out of control and spirits shrivel.
We need to invite alone time–find it and keep it . Our souls need to situate themselves comfortably inside a pillowed circle of silence regularly in order to hear the voice of God and the truths of our own, multi-colored hearts. Are we exhausted? Sabbath time will make that clear.
Cutaway Sabbath times with God alone opens the secret door of ourselves to ourselves, and to Him. He hears. He knows. He weeps deep with His knowing. Stripped of all the subtle ways we “posture” among others, we become transparent when alone. We hear the truth. We may enter alone time in fear, but we leave in exultation.
Sabbath time allows us to encounter truths in a way not possible when with others. We experience the relief of being “real” and looking at sequestered truths and letting go of heart clutter.
My Story
After the death of my mother, I set aside a “Sabbath” at a nearby retreat center for a day alone. I thought I was “doing well”. Hadn’t I said so? I quickly learned I was not. Tears erupted from some volcanic center, and I let them come. For l l/2 hours they came: uncorked, unchained, unbottled. Raw and fierce emotion charged through me with the gale force of a windstorm until the wind began to surge intermittently, and finally died. There had been nowhere to grieve!
In the quiet that came, my soul gathered itself and began to heal as God heard my lament. Mountains of feelings were climbed until the end of the day brought peace and calm, and the ability to reenter my world recharged.
A perfect parenthesis between yesterday and tomorrow.
None of us can water a field with a pitcher of water. But oh, we do try! I have. You have. But our bodies and our souls must be informed they are not invincible and put on notice they will be cared for.
“Jesus! And did you, too, need so much time alone with God? It seems so. This makes me thirsty…draw me nearer…
A SIP OF WATER
Turn everything off. Sit quietly in a darkened room for 10 minutes. Breathe deeply 10 times. Close your eyes. You have begun.
Linda Andersen
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also connecting with Jennifer Dukes Lee:
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Your words are like a breath of fresh air! I struggle with this setting aside time for quiet, reflection, time with the Master. Thanks for encouraging me this day to do just that!
My goodness! You are a great communicator. Every time. I could so relate to this: “Conversation rattles incessantly around in our heads, our homes.” … Even when I’m not talking, my mind is all busy chatting away. I so appreciate your focus here. Keep shining!
Hi Linda! You have another book out? I want it & want to gift many, as I did with your Too Busy Book! Is there a way to get a regular book, rather than an Ebook? I’ve had many friends ask me if you had any new books out yet! I would love to talk with you again about Quiet Retreats! Please email me your contact information, or your email address. It’s been a long time! Not even sure if you remember me?
Hello. I am really glad to have found your site. I am re-reading “Too Busy” at present. I have just completed the first section and prayed for encouragement to put writing to life again, to write anything and give myself permission to have space to do it. and I then found your site. I am a Christian lady who lives in beautiful Cornwall, UK. I will come and visit now often, to read on the internet things I have longed to read for sometime. How pleasant it is to have found your site. It is wonderful to be given the opportunity to give feedback to an author of a book I am reading right now. Thankyou