DEVOTION: Up close and personal

By Leila Halawe @LHalawe

Recently I was driving through the South Island of New Zealand on my way to some work events. I had never been to the South Island before so it was a new experience for me with new scenery to observe and gush over. And there is lots to gush over in the South Island. Beautiful mountains, long winding river beds and lush green pastures are just some of the delightful landscape you will see as you drive around.

We needed to get from Christchurch to Nelson, which meant we got to travel some long winding roads; roads that were hugged by mountains on either side. Some of the mountain peaks were covered in snow, while others were covered by the long white clouds that New Zealand is often known for. But one of the most beautiful sites was the lush green on the mountains. Many of the mountain sides were covered in lush green leaves. From a distance, all you could see was a beautiful green covering the entire mountain face.

However it wasn't until we got closer that we were able to see the detail. We didn't the interconnectedness of the forest until we were up close and we could see the branches and the leaves and the roots. When we got closer, the detail became clearer and it was apparent that what looked like a blanket of lush green leaves was really a beautiful forest of old trees with deep roots. Of rocks and boulders covered with dirt and moss. Up close, we saw the intricate details and realised that from a distance, not everything is as it seems.

Our view of God can be like that. 

When we are a little removed from God, we can have an image of Him and of His heart. We can have perception of His nature. When we are looking at Him from a distance, we can still see Him, but we won't see the details; we won't see the intricacies of His heart and character. We won't feel His heart beat. When we are looking at God from a distance, we won't hear the tones of His voice because we are too far. In the book of 1 Kings 19, we read about Elijah having an encounter with God after being on the run:

"and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice." (I Kings 19:12 NKJV).

Elijah wanted to hear from God and he was looking for God in the wind and rain and trees, but the bible tells us that Elijah didn't encounter God in the fire, it was in the still small voice. God doesn't yell or scream at us, He whispers.

And the only way to hear a whisper is to lean in close; to get up close and personal and focused.

And when we do that, we can hear God tenderly and gently speaking to our hearts. Looking at God from a distance doesn't allow us to really truly know Him. It doesn't allow us to hear His heart beat for us. To know His plans for us. To follow His guidance.

Jesus himself tells us that we need to abide in Him:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me - John 15:4 (ESV)

He wants us to rest in Him, to sit at His feet and abide in His presence and listen to His gentle whisper. He wants us to walk close. When life is hard and when the pain is heartbreaking, we need to get up close to God, not stand back and look at Him from a distance. We need to run towards Him and really lean in and look at Him; press in and tune our ears to listen. And when we do that, we won't only hear Him, but we'll be able to see Him and see clearly His majesty and beauty and grace.

This post has been cross published on ICFW

Leila (Lays) Halawe is a Sydney based coffee loving nonfiction writer and blogger. She has published a short devotional, Love By Devotion, and shares her views on life and faith via her blog page Looking In . You can connect with her via Facebook at Leila Halawe Author  and via Twitter at Leila Halawe.

Writing Rhythms

I'm a bit of a musician. I've played the piano for as long as I remember, played clarinet for a number of years in high school, I sing, and I’ve written songs. I like to think I'm one of those people with a fairly good sense of timing - you know, someone who can clap in church to encourage the musicians out the front, and not put them off with faulty counting :)

In music, rhythm is regarded as the pattern of sounds and silence; how the beats are structured decides the rhythm. Tempo is slightly different, in that it refers to the speed of the music, whether it is fast, medium or slow. This has to do with the number of beats per minute: allegro (which means fast, bright or quickly) is played at 120-168 beats per minute (bpm), whereas adagio (which means to be played at a leisurely pace) is around 54-56 bpm.  It’s often the tempo that can determine the mood of a piece of music – you don’t tend to hear too many fast-paced sad songs.

Lately, I've been learning in my writing journey about writing rhythms: the ebbs and flow of creativity and marketing and how that relates to productivity and just plain life.

Sometimes we have seasons of creativity, where the words are begging to get onto the page (or into the computer). Other times it's more of a challenge, like when we feel stuck in a box with no whisper of inspiration to be heard, when every sentence written feels like it deserves some form of chocolate reward. Sometimes we might move into a period of promotion, when selling ourselves is considered necessary (even if we find it painful – hello, fellow introverts). At other times, life—by way of family, health, work—can feel like it’s hijacking our writing journey, and we may feel like we stutter to a stop, or at least to an uncertain pause.

I’m learning that whatever the season I’m in, whether it be the very, very fast pace of ‘prestissimo’ when words are pouring forth furiously and deadlines and marketing demand an accelerated pace (hello: where I feel like I've spent most of my year!), or the quieter times of ‘calando’ when circumstances slow and it feels like one can breathe again, the most important thing is to keep listening to the rhythm orchestrated by God. God is always constant, like a metronome that sets the tempo and regulates our rhythms. This means we need not panic when life feels like it’s getting out of control, nor despair when it seems like nothing is working out.

God’s character never falters, His promises remain steady, and as we read His word and listen to His leading, we can be assured by the fact that He knows the various rhythms of our life. God is right there with us, a steadying heartbeat, in the ‘presto’ and the ‘tardo’ and all the other tempos of our writing journey, and our lives.

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked part-time as a public high school English and Learning and Support teacher.A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency novels include The Elusive Miss Ellison, The Captivating Lady Charlotte, and the upcoming release The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey, published by Kregel, and available from Koorong, Amazon, Book Depository etc

Connect with her:        www.carolynmillerauthor.com                                      www.pinterest.com/camillering  www.facebook.com/CarolynMillerAuthor/  twitter.com/CarolynMAuthor

Remembering God

I don't know about you but there are times when my faith walk has been a little dry. I don't want it to be, but I have had times, sometimes seasons, where I felt spiritually dry and in those times I find myself losing my awe and wonder towards God. If you have been there, you know that not only can it be a frustrating time but also a time when your faith can really start to wane and become lukewarm. Your relationship with Christ becomes nothing more than going through the motions and if we are not careful, those dry seasons become more frequent, eventually leading to a disconnection from God. 

Image credit: armyofcompassion.com

I recently found myself in the early stages of one of the dry seasons. I had been doing so much travel for work (which I love, by the way) that I found myself giving up my time with God in the mornings so I could catch a couple of hours of extra sleep. The days were long and intense that by the time I got back to my hotel, all I wanted was a meal and a coffee and a non-fiction novel to zone out (preferably Christian romance but that's just me.) I started to feel restlessness stirring but in my tired state, I didn't connect the dots enough to know that I needed some time with God to refresh. It was mid trip in Orlando that I was introduced to an exercise during my work training that not only helped me reconnect, but it bought back my awe and wonder.


One morning we were given a sheet of paper that had the letter of each alphabet listed with three lines under it and we were asked to list down all the characteristics of God against the alphabetical letter. Who is God? How do we define His character? His heart? We were told we had three minutes and we had to write the characteristics of God and who He was to us as quickly as possible. Once we had written them down, we all stood for combined worship and during worship we were asked to call out the names and characteristics in alphabetical order. It was slow to start, but then everyone got into it:


Awesome.
Advocate.
Beautiful.
Beloved.
Counselor.
Courage.
Champion.
Deliverer.
Defender.
Everlasting.
Everything.
Freedom. 
First.
Guide. 
Heartbeat.


The list went on and on. As we stood there, about 25 of us in total, reading out the characteristics of God as we saw and felt them, tears streamed down my face. As I listened to people around me sharing how they saw God, and as I called out some of my own words, my heart beat wildly in my chest because I reminded of who He is. The words spoken out were a glimpse of the One who made me and loves me. I was reminded that He is everything and that He is more than enough, something I had unfortunately lost sight of for a little while because I had been so focused on myself. As we stood and fixed our eyes on the Cross, I was reminded that it is about Him and only Him. It reminded me that He is my beloved. My advocate. My freedom.


We are often encouraged to remember the good things that God has done, but how often do we stop and remember who God actually is? How often do we stop and just sit in awe and wonder at who He is, not what He has done? It reminded me of all the things that He was and how much He loved me how much He did, and continues to do for me. It reminded me that the heart of God is one that leans towards me and the character of God is one of such integrity and righteousness and faithfulness that He couldn't possibly let me down, no matter how much the enemy tried to convince me otherwise. Most importantly it reminded me to shift my focus back to where is should be; on Jesus. 

Since that day, my worship and my time with God has shifted and I am focusing more on Him. On the days when I am off to a slow start, I recite some of those words and remind myself that He who was Awesome and Faithful and Loving on that January morning in Orlando is still just as faithful an d awesome and loving. On the days when my heart is a little heavy and my mind is roaming, I make myself go back to the heart of worship and reflect on the awesomeness and wonder of God. So if you are struggling to get going today, can I encourage you to spend some time writing down all the characteristics of God and reading them out aloud to yourself, because we all need a little reminder sometimes.

Leila (Lays) Halawe is a Sydney based coffee loving nonfiction writer and blogger. She has published a short devotional, Love By Devotion, and shares her views on life and faith via her blog page Looking In. You can connect with her via Facebook at Leila Halawe Author and via Twitter at Leila Halawe.