Contemplative Prayer was introduced to me years ago by a woman of God, Pamela Wella, who is now lead pastor at The Place Community church. This experience showed me – true rest is about how to be in God’s presence and care for our soul .
Contemplative prayer is an age old spiritual practice where you set your intention to sit with God and simply enjoy being in each others company.
Contemplative Prayer – How?
In our time together Pastor Wella invited us to take a word given by God, or to visualize being with God, and then sit in openness for 10 minutes.
My mind immediately turned to a familiar visualization given by a compassionate counselor. It was something I had not done in a long time.
Here is the visualization:
View God as a kindly father. Crawl into his lap and rest your head upon his breast with his arms gently cradling you, and rest. Every once in a while look up into his face. You smile at one another glad to be in each others company.
In doing this exercise you literally stop and rest.
And with cleansing tears I let go of the anger, the fear, and the fretting of late, and rested in Gods lap as his child.
This exercise is a practical example of
Come unto me you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28.
Take 5 minutes right now and rest with the following music sung by singer songwriter Jenn Johnson.
It feels so good to stop running around the table in circles, and sit down in a chair ready for change.
Thank you for sharing this tool for rest Pam.
I am old now but this reminds me of a dream I had many years ago that was exactly as you have described.
I was sitting on Jesus’s lap as a small girl with my head against His chest and looking up into His face as He was looking down in mine. I was held close cradled in His arms as I felt a relaxation of peace. Such a wonderful feeling that only He can give that I can still feel and see it in my mind.
Thank you for this message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my “Contemplative Prayer as Rest” post Bonnie. Your comment has made writing it worthwhile. I agree, He is the only place true everlasting peace can be found.
Thank you Bonnie, for taking the time to comment. In Philippians 4:6-7 it says it all: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Truly a priceless gift.