All shall be well...

"Think of what it is like to be caught in traffic for more than an hour. Horns blaring, people shouting obscenities. Exhaust pouring in your windows, suffocating you. Then remember what its like to come into a beautiful place, a garden or a meadow or a quiet beach. There is room for your soul. It expands. You can breathe again. You can rest. It is good. All is well.

I sit outside on a summer evening and just listen, and behold, and drink it all in, and my heart begins to quiet and peace begins to come into my soul. My heart tells me that 'All will be well,' as Julian of Norwich concluded. 'And all manner of things will be well.' That is what beauty says, All shall be well.

And this is whats its like to be with a woman at rest, a woman comforable in her feminine beauty. She is enjoyable to be with. She is lovely. In her presence your heart stops, holding its beath. You relax and believe once again that all will be well.

And this is also why a woman who is striving is so disturbing, for a woman who is not at rest in her heart says to the world, 'All is not well. Things are not going to turn out all right.' 'Like a fountain toubled,' as Shakespeare said, 'muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty.' We need what Beauty speaks. What it says is hard to put into words. But part of its message is that all is well. All will be well." (Captivating by John & Stasi Eldridge)

I ended up pushing back my plane ticket to Slovenia and am living on the Central Coast of CA until I raise up enough support to go back. Since realizing this would be the case there have been three words that have been floating around in my heart and mind. Beauty, Rest, and Worship.

The word beauty has emerged from the book Captivating that I recently picked up and have been reading. Sitting on the beach this afternoon I read the above excerpt and the words resonated in my soul. To be at rest is to be beautiful. And to be beautiful is to be at rest.

Realizing that the Lord has me on the Central Coast right now has caused me to westle and ask, "Why!?" His answer to me has been twofold. Worship and Rest.

I don't have many friends down here anymore. Im housesitting for my best friend who is in Hawaii on her honeymoon. So, my days seem very quiet and at times, lonely. Its so easy for me to seek to fill my time with meaningless activities--but deep in my spirit I hear the words, Beauty, Worship, and Rest. I believe that The Lord is telling me that as I cease striving, All shall be well.