Everything around me is chaos. I can't think. I can't breathe. How do I find peace when nothing is peaceful?

Stillness sounds like something you find once the noise stops. But the psalmist wrote his with mountains sliding into the sea — he wasn't describing calm, he was describing the middle of it. Being still was never about the storm quieting. It's about who is standing in it with you.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, everything around me is chaos. I can't think. I can't breathe. How do I find peace when nothing is peaceful?”

God: “I have two words for you. The same two words I spoke when the earth was shaking and nations were raging: Be still.”

The child: “Be still? That's it?”

God: “'Be still, and know that I am God.' It's not a suggestion. It's a command. Stop. Be still. And know — not hope, not wonder — know that I am God.”

God: “The psalmist wrote this in the middle of mountains falling into the sea. Waters roaring. Kingdoms shaking. He wasn't describing a quiet afternoon. He was describing total chaos.”

The child: “And in the middle of all that, God says be still?”

God: “Especially in the middle of all that. Stillness isn't the absence of storm. It's the presence of trust. You can be still inside even when everything outside is moving.”

God: “The psalm says 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.' Not a distant help. A present one. I'm not watching from far away. I'm right here in the chaos with you.”

The child: “How do I actually be still though? My mind won't stop.”

God: “Start by stopping. Stop trying to fix it all. Stop running through scenarios. Just stop. Breathe. And say one thing: 'You are God.' That's the 'know' part. Remind yourself who I am.”

The child: “You are God. Even in this.”

God: “Even in this. 'I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' The chaos doesn't change who I am. I am still God over all of it.”

The child: “Be still. And know. That's enough.”

God: “That's everything. When you know who I am, your soul can rest even when the world can't.”

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10, KJV