"…therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still." Isaiah 30:7b
"There is a perfect passivity which is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety." Streams in the Desert
I must be honest and say that I am a master of "compressed anxiety". I can smile and perform and work while concealing a seething volcano of apprehension and panic within myself.
It is a learned habit which destroys the health and wellbeing of the one suppressing such anxiety.
The true peace only comes from within, when we have stilled our raging thoughts and settled ourselves quietly at His feet.
The wonderful thing is that we can practice this peaceful stillness until it becomes a habit as well.
"O rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile;
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.
"Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown,
Not taking Heaven by violence of will;
But with thy Father as a child sit down,
And know the bliss that follows His "Be Still!"
~Mary Rowles Jarvis, Streams in the Desert
Obtaining Mercy 