Be Still: Seriously, Y’all Need to Calm Down

Be Still and try to calm down.  I completely lost it this morning.  Completely. Out loud, directly to my husband, Justin, and indirectly, but I know He was listening, to God. 

And it wasn’t a political rant.  I don’t watch the news. And it wasn’t a tantrum, I have everything I need at the moment.  But it was legitimately my heart’s cry, there is so much more to what we, Believers, believe.  There is more.

And as I finished my third book, which is now available at all your favorite book stores, my eyes were continually opened to the more.  

I made the “Be Still: Seriously, Y’all Need to Calm Down,” t-shirt for my Etsy shop.  I thought it was funny. It is a best seller on Etsy.

But I didn’t get the relevance of it until this morning when I lost it and then was forced to seriously… calm down.  

I got still, and that is when I remembered, a class I had to take at Abilene Christian University in the short summer session of 1994.  I was nearing graduation and I was missing a Bible credit. So I took a two-week crash course on the Book of Acts. I was young and naive and also, Catholic, at an old school, Church of Christ university.  

Of course, I thought I knew it all.  And of course, I would be proven wrong, multiple times.  Ten years after I took that course, during a personal struggle someone said to me, “OH!  You should go through the Book of Acts! That might really help you.” And I said, and this is embarrassing, “Yeah, I have read it.”

As if, the Word of God is like a John Grisham novel, turned box office hit.  

And I don’t mind confessing that, it is not the first time or the last I have borne my folly here on a little blog that entirely changed my life.  

But that is the point of this post, the evolution of belief, freedom, and more.  

Be still, calm down, listen, learn, believe, and grow.  

So what set me off this morning was that Justin was telling me about a convenience store he went into for a crappy cup of coffee.  The clerk, probably in his mid-forties was red-faced and disheveled, was obviously shaken. There was spilled coffee all over the floor, along with other miscellaneous coffee paraphernalia.  

The clerk said, “I am sorry, man. The coffee wasn’t finished brewing and a customer got mad and just went nuts.”  

Talk about needing to be still.  

And I am not sure why, well, maybe I am, but this just sent me over the edge. 

This man, the clerk, not the vandal, is exactly the kind of person I want more for.  

Everything in me wants more for someone in a job that stresses instead of blesses and the freedom that I believe can come from knowing and believing Jesus.  

And I am just a girl,  a blog, and a few books, that frankly do not speak to middle-aged, male, gas station attendants. Still, Justin and I had the same craving.  We both wanted to tell this guy, who had been brutalized by a coffee crazed jerk, there is more, that is what we both want.  

Neither Justin nor I require fame, as a matter of fact, Justin wishes I would not use his real name, but a small fortune would not hurt.  But we both want to be in a position to give away free books, bibles, and e-courses on completely changing your existence. Teaching the masses, they can ask for and believe they can have more, change their lives forever and then they too, can take that Good News to every corner of the world.  

That seems like a reasonable request.  

And I confess, it made me feel stifled.  As if I have been in college for far too long.  Learning, and unlearning, and then relearning, what it means to be set free and then be truly, free indeed.  

I think my exact words were, “I am just ready.  I am ready to stop all the farming and reap the harvest.”  

Be still.  

I recounted the journey, which in the scope of things has not been that long.  

And then, as if it was a movie, I replayed the scenes.  It started at a teen-mom camp in 1990, where I worked as a counselor.  It turned into a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Human Development.  I had a deep craving, to help young women become their best selves, and change their story and empower their children to do the same.  

The vision changed, because, as I said, I was Catholic.  And I was a good Catholic, so I kept birthing more Catholics.  That morphed into a role as an adoptive and foster mom, which somehow turned into a blog.  And that blog morphed into book deals. 

Then book deals were harder to navigate than I could have believed.  And in a strange and nearly creepy turn of events, I turned into a royalty artist and was given opportunities to write more books and have my artwork and words in major retailers.

All of that sounds too good to be true when I say it out loud.  Still, my underlying passion is setting captives free. And so, I lost it.  

Then, I was forced to be still. 

I had to calm down.  

And I looked back and reveled in the journey to freedom and that is when I knew, there is more.  

He has more. 

If only I am still, and I am willing to wait, taste and see, learn and grow, and really believe, there is more.

Which brings me here, on a Monday morning,  to do what little I can to tell you… Hey, friend, be still, there is more.  

The situation you are in right now may seem entirely too much and unfair.  You may believe you are at the end of your rope with no hope or help, I implore you, be still, there is more. 

Ask, believe in your heart and you shall receive, is not something to read once, to minimally cling to as truth. 

It is the truth.  

There is more.  

And this entirely moves me.  When I look back over the years and I see who I was, what I believed, and why I believed it, I am so glad I was wrong.  

The situation may be frustrating, even impossible.  I beg of you, be still, calm down, there is more. 

The cry of your heart matters.  You are heard, seen, and known. Every single day we, the Beloved, get to learn something new that will be important to the next something new.  I do not subscribe to the idea that our hardships are authored by the One who calls us “friend.” 

He is only the Author of restoration.  But if He allows it and we are still, He will deliver us to the other side, to more.  

My prayer for me and anyone who reads this is that we are never so smart we are too stupid to learn.  Furthermore, that we cling to Jesus and not the Law or random things that we learned in 1994 so that we might grow, learn, and be free… indeed.  

Be still, there is more.  

Let lose the reins of what you think you know the lesson is or why He teaching you. He has more.  Greater He is more. 

I propose that many of us are afraid to truly believe that we can ask and have more because we have been lead to embrace a teaching that if we had everything, we would not need Him.  

To this, I cry, who among you would give your child a snake if they asked for a fish?  

A true romance is about the essence of the lover, not the framework of what we can get from the other person.  It is okay to want more from this life, to do more, be more, reach more, and still know He is everything.  

Ambition and mission are a part of us, but they do not define a true relationship with the One who instilled ambition and mission in us.  

If not for the stumble, we would never look up and say, “Lord, help.”

But He did not trip you. 

He is not out to get you. 

And He is big enough for the tantrum and wise enough to help you up and take you to the next big reveal.  

Personally, I feel I am ready to reap the harvest.  

So, I boldly proclaim I want a double portion of His spirit.  I will write more.  And there will be free books for foster children, I will write and illustrate it and title it, “I am...” Then, there will be aid to foster and adoptive families.  I will speak more. Then, a program for parents whose children are in foster care, a program for restoration, and more.  Still, there will be art, conferences, and e-courses, and… more.

And until then, I will be still, calm down, love Him too, and wait for more.   

Blessings and wisdom… Jesus be all over you.  Love, Jami 

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

You might also enjoy:  How to Get Better at God

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The watercolor cactus featured in the post is available for sale in my shop. Click on the image to see!