After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.

1 Kings 19:12 (CSB)

In 1990, cell phones were uncommon. I booked a flight from Dallas, Texas to Denver, Colorado to visit my parents. I was a single mom with two small children. What was I thinking to make a trip like this without another adult? We discussed the flight information through home phones.

Fog slowed our two-hour drive that January morning to DFW. At the airport, fog wreaked havoc with flights. Signs directed us to a different terminal and airline than originally scheduled. Finally we boarded, but my mind flew faster than the jet toward Denver. Would my parents find us with the new flight details? Upon arrival, panic and confusion flooded my being.

Tears flowed from despair. We wandered for hours. Then I called out, “God, help me! I can’t do this.” Calmed by the quiet leading of the Holy Spirit, I waited by baggage claim. Feeling helpless, that was my “next thing” to do. My fears subsided. Eventually, we united.

Immobilizing fear causes confusion and stress. Judgment is clouded. But… there is clarity and peace in the Holy Spirit.

Let the Spirit breathe into your spirit. Heart fog lifts—at least enough to take the next step.

In times of despair and anxiety, I’ve received encouragement from an old five-stanza poem entitled, “Doe ye Nexte Thynge”*. The first stanza is:

From an old English parsonage, down by the sea

There came in the twilight a message to me;

Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,

Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.

And on through the hours the quiet words ring,

Like a low inspiration: DO THE NEXT THING.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation [rescue] of the Lord (Lamentations 3:26).

Wait, beloved one. Quiet yourself to discern God’s soft whisper.

Karen Sims

*Steele Elliott, Emily Elizabeth. Stillness and Service. London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday, circa 1875.