“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters …” (Psalm 23:2, NIV).
Once, on a weary afternoon, I realized a rushed energy had become the anthem of my spirit. A wild river of timelines and tasks, striving and surviving, flooded my days as I found myself beholden to busyness.
I sensed the Lord inviting me to slow down, yet I’d spent so long managing the rush of my days, I’d forgotten how to trust the hush of His pace.
Dear friend, have you, too, survived on meager margin for so long you’ve forgotten the quiet strength of slowing down?
I love the peaceful scene King David depicts for us in his Psalm 23 prayer to the Shepherd of our souls. David declared of the Lord, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2).
Before David was king of Israel, he was a shepherd gently guiding his flock. David understood the nurturing nature of the Lord tenderly leading His people.
As women, we often fill our days with managing the details of our lives and get caught in the current of busyness, leaving us flooded with overwhelm. As we strive to be productive, our default direction can run along rapid rivers of exhaustion rather than the quiet waters of rest where the Lord leads.
Yet our Good Shepherd longs for us to follow Him in the calm of His company and the balm of His boundaries.
Time is a boundary: a hem of 24 hours each day marked by God. His heart for our time isn’t that we drown our days with a restless roar of activity. Rather, the Lord longs to refresh our spirits with restful reliance on Him.
Sometimes slowing down may feel like falling behind, but the notion that we could fall behind on God’s plans for us is a lie from the enemy. Take heart — we’ll never be late for God's plans by embracing His pace.
God authors our stories and holds each season of our lives in His timeline. When we rest in the shelter of His company, we learn to discern His still, small voice above the rush of life. As we prayerfully cull our capacity for each season, our spirits exhale in the soft pastures and still waters of balanced days.
We can trust the Lord to lead us well, for this is the quiet strength of slowing down.
Lately, I’m learning that the woman God created me to be isn’t nurtured by busy striving but by faithful following. Be encouraged, dear friend: The same is true for you.
May we pour our plans through a sieve of prayer, allowing God to filter our time according to the beautiful purpose He’s prepared in advance for us. The calm our souls crave is found in the quiet waters of His margin.
Dear Lord, I long to be a good steward of this life You’ve given me, yet my busy striving drowns out Your gentle whisper. Please teach me to slow down and trust Your pace. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Where do you turn with the questions about faith you’ve been afraid to ask out loud? For many women, the answer is a search bar or social media, where speculation and misinformation can create even more confusion. Proverbs 31 Ministries wants to meet her in that search with something she can trust: the Truth of God’s Word. Your gift today helps provide Scripture-rooted resources that answer difficult questions and point women back to the power, presence, and victory of God. And to thank you for helping make that possible, we’ll send you Between Heaven and Here, a new First 5 study exploring what the Bible really says about the spiritual realm and the unseen battles you face.
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Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven" (NLT).
John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (NLT).
What relief might your weary spirit feel if you trusted God’s unrushed order for your days? Ask Him for wisdom to know what belongs in this season, and follow Him into the calm of balanced days.
We’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments.
© 2026 by Brenda Bradford Ottinger. All rights reserved.
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