Be Still

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:14

For us, the adoption process has been a whirlwind experience. We have spent the last several weeks sprinting through most of our home study. Meetings, paperwork, and online classes have consumed most of our free time. It has been joyful work, but still work. There definitely has not been much time to just sit and be still.

Now that our home study is finishing and we are entering a time of waiting, being still is maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I even wish there was more paperwork to do, which after completing a home study is insane. There are no more classes, no more meetings, and no more forms to fill out. No more prescribed list of things to accomplish that let me know we are making progress.

But as I take the extra time I now have on my hands to reflect on God’s promises, I am reminded of when the Israelites were faced with crossing the Red Sea. They were terrified because they didn’t know the end of their story and they had no idea that the plan was to bring them to safety. So they did the only thing they knew to do and they cried out to God. God’s response to their pleas for help is one of my all-time favorite verses, he said, “you need only to be still.”

God already knew how the story would end and where the journey would take them. I’m sure he wasn’t worried about how they would cross the Red Sea. From his perspective, they might as well have been a kid in the grocery store who thinks they lost their mom but really just can’t see where she is. They were always in good hands.

I’m also sure that the Israelites were all trying to figure out their own plan to get them to safety and that none of them would have been successful.

For me, I want to believe if I work hard enough and think through things enough I can make this process go quicker. But the truth is that God’s plans are greater than mine. I can work to make sure that I am still doing God’s will, but God is the one, the only one, who will deliver us to the other side of our story.


I need only to be still while he creates the perfect story.