Finding Your Sacred Space—Where is Your NEST? Conversation with Linda Andersen
(Read or Click Here to listen to the Podcast)
A NEST is a space that God provides for us to spend time alone with Him. Sometimes, in the busyness of our Church involvement, we can forget what a critical aspect time alone with the Father was in Jesus’ life and ours. We see it woven throughout the gospels, where Jesus left early in the morning to spend time alone with the Father (Mark 1:35), or sent the disciples ahead of him to have time alone with the Father (Matthew 14:23), ect.
I’ve got a special treat. I asked my dear friend and mentor, Linda Andersen, an expert on this topic to write an article about the NESTS God has provided for her through the years. It’s been a beautiful component of her faith journey to watch.
Linda is the author of eight books, beginning with Love Adds the Chocolate way back in 1983, and 300 articles! Her most recent one is Spiritual Retreat for Tired Souls.
Linda and I met about twenty-five years ago when she spoke at my Mom’s Support Group about our need to find regular time alone with God and offered her home to the women there to come for what she called a DAWG (Day Alone with God). My spirit leapt! With six children at home, I didn't know how I would get to her home, but I knew I needed to.
That started our ever-deepening relationship and planted the seed of spending time alone with God in my life. The Sanctuary at Bear Creek exists today because of that seed.
Many of you know and love Linda and have been introduced to spending time alone with God through her.
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Finding God Everywhere
I was about 7 when God leaned down over my bed in Whitehall, MI and softly blew a silken invitation like a kiss. "Come unto me."
All I knew was how badly I wanted God to be my forever friend. At that moment, Abba took my earnest and heartfelt desire into His cupped hands, swooped down, and ran with it. He wrapped His arms around my quaking heart and pulled me close....forever. Together, we began a lifelong soul dance that has never ended and never will.
From that moment on, we have sought each other out in quiet places. So very many places. All good. All different.
The first quiet place I remember was a plain, empty room in the cement basement of my elementary 10-grade school.
Later, as a middle schooler, my cozy bed became a "nest" of sorts to pray. Lights out.
Darkness in. God and I also found each other on walks in the country, in orchards, and even in cemeteries. Lake Michigan became a favorite spot to meet. Bonding and bending toward each other, we became as one. It happened as we longed toward each other. It took oodles of grace on God's part, and flaming desire on mine.
Fast forward to motherhood. As a 24-year-old mother of three kids under five, I worked. And how I worked! My title was full-time mother, full-time wife, and full-time woman. I had no car most of the time, no help, and no Pampers. Imagine the diaper pail.
It was the hardest of times and the best of times as I searched for places to "feel" God's presence.
Over time, I began to realize that God was actually and really present even if I didn't have a moment alone or a place where I could "feel" Him. He was with me. My soul stretched long into that truth, and began to relax with "what is". He was truly inside me and continually visiting my thinly-stretched soul 24/7.
Then came middle age, and I used a variety of resources to be alone with the Savior: study nooks at libraries … my own living room...rides on quiet country roads, beside lakes, at picnic spots. I used my watercolor studio, and I even traded houses with friends who worked away from home. And all these were fine in their own way, but deep down, I still wanted a "nest" of my very own on my property. And they were yet to come.
Across the years, my hunger for spaces alone with God and my soul was met with a smile, and provision after provision. Year after year, He never ran out of "nests" for us to meet. He also never ran away from this eager pilgrim who always seemed to want "more" of Him. We two became "a thing". We couldn't get enough of each other. At the same time I was longing for Him, God was longing for me! Holy, holy, holy!
And so, because we moved many times, I was always on the prowl for yet another "nest". I have been known to "plague" both God as well as my carpenter husband. And lo! He has built for me several beautiful spaces surrounded by flowers. My last sacred space was tiny, but overlooked a woods and a flower garden beyond beautiful. So sweet. So tranquil.
I have even used a friend's RV and leaned into a communion like no other. All I have done is to look and listen.
Perhaps the most beautiful space I've used, and which is open to all. It is a charming cabin overlooking a stream in the woods. Check it out at The Sanctuary at Bear Creek, Allegan, MI.
Can this happen for you? No question.
My latest word from the Lord about spending time alone with Him goes like this: "Linda, Don't settle for water when you can have wine... as if Jesus isn't at the wedding...as if miracles are out of date.”
We're dealing with a God who can feed 5,000 with a few fish and some bread. Maybe it's time to lay down some "stuff" and have coffee with God. I did. We did. You are invited.
"Ask and it shall be given"
~ Linda Andersen
Author of Spiritual Retreat for Tired Souls
P.S. God really, really does love you.
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Prayer Pause …
A Prayer of Longing
by Linda Andersen
Abba, Daddy, God of my heart and author of life, thank you for being big enough to grow small and enter my very soul.
Thank you for being kind enough to make me well-favored and to believe in me.
Thank you for meeting and greeting me in my younger years.
Thank you for putting your arms around my soul and promising you would never leave.
Thank you for coming hard after me again, now, as I'm growing up, and for making perfect sense out of nonsense and question marks.
Oh, and thank you for carrying me on your shoulders when I'm tired of it all. It means a lot.
Thank you for breaking bread with me when I'm weak and speechless, talking too much, and listening too little.
Thank you for finding me in every "nest" no matter where I move and picking up our conversation.
You, Abba, are God, for sure and forever. Without a doubt. On this, I stand on planet earth, arms outstretched from the doorway of my latest "nest".
"Behold the Lamb!"
Other articles you may enjoy:
Soaking in the Psalms with Linda Andersen
The Two Words that Make All the Difference
~ Lori