Sheila Walsh - 5 Minutes with Jesus: Quiet Time for Your Soul

E ach year in amusement parks all over the world, thousands of us line up to ride the most gravity-defying, adrenaline-inducing thrill rides we can find. Giddily, we wait in line for our turn and then, at last, buckle up for the ride. Few of us pay attention to the bored sixteen-year-old at the control paneleven though hes the one with access to the large red emergency stop button, the last safeguard in the rare event that the ride goes too fast, spins a little too wildly, and hurtles out of control.

Have you ever wished you had a stop button for your life?

I sure have. Some days my life feels like a thrill ride that has slipped past fun and into the realm of chaos. Its an easy place to be in our modern world. Gone are simpler, quieter days when evenings were spent visiting with neighbors on the front porch or with family around the dinner table. Now blinking screens and beeping notifications have been added to the menu of never-ending entertainment options able to fill every waking moment of the daylight hours and even jar us from our sleep at night.

As if that were not all exhausting enough, if youre like me, you sometimes feel as if you never, ever stop running from one activity to another.

Is it any wonder we are anxious and deeply weary? We simply were not made to live like thisrunning full-tilt, dashing through one adrenaline-fueled day to another against a soundtrack created by phone calls, e-mails, texts, computers, TV, radio, and even on occasion, in-person human voices.

Isnt it time we hit the emergency stop button even for just a few minutes?

Well, friend, this is the invitation I am offering you today: the chance to step off the thrill ride of life and into the arms of your loving Savior. He waits to lead you beside still waters that will refresh your soul and to green pastures where you will find rest (Psalm 23).

God loves you. He never intended for you to live a frenzied, exhausting life. Listen to the words of Psalm 127:2: Its useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Dont you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? ( THE MESSAGE ).

Jesus longs to give you the gift of rest, and it can begin with five minutes a day...

Five minutes to shut out the noise...

Five minutes to find peace in the midst of a troubled world...

Five minutes to step out of the crosshairs of a culture that constantly demands more, more, and more...

Five minutes to receive Gods sweet rest for your soul.

What do you say?

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Are you ready to hit that stop button?

I t seemed to sneak up on me overnight. One moment Christian was a little boy who needed his mom for so much, and the next he was off to collegeindependent, confident, and strong.

One morning I sat in my favorite chair with a cup of tea, looking through old family photo albums and remembering some of my favorite moments from his childhood. There was the Alaska trip when Christian was nine years old. Part of our trip package included dogsledding. The chief musher asked Christian if he would like to direct the sled. When Christian looked at me, I said, Go for it! You can do it. If you fall, Ill be right there.

I must have said that a hundred times as he was growing up: If you fall, Ill be right there! Now I say a variation of it in my prayers for him, thanking God that if Christian falls, his heavenly Father will be right there.

We can find great comfort in thinking of God as our Father. But did you know that when God wanted to describe how He comforts His children, God compared Himself to a mother?

In the book of Isaiah, God had some difficult things to say to His children, the Israelites. Despite His loving care of them, they had stubbornly rejected Him over and over again. He had sent His messengers, the prophets, to call His children back to Him, but they didnt listen. Finally, the time came when the Lord decided to let His children have their own way.

But the Israelites had forgotten something important: the same God they were rejecting was the One protecting them. He warned the Israelites that when He removed His protection, their enemies would sweep in and take them into captivity. It was terrifying, heartbreaking newsand God knew it. He couldnt bear to deliver it without comforting His children, and when He did, He used this imagery: As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you (Isaiah 66:13).

One of the most precious blessings of taking time to replenish our souls in Gods presence is the tender comfort He offers us when we are hurting. It is so easy to run to a thousand other places when our hearts are wounded, but our compassionate God wants us to come to Him