Finding Nourishment for the Soul

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Landscape painting of a quiet stream winding through tall grasses and white flowers, with soft light reflecting on the water and trees in the background.

This painting grew from a quiet reflection that stayed with me while I was away this past month: Where do we find nourishment for our souls?

Person sitting on a wooden dock beside a small dog, looking out over calm water at sunset with soft light on the horizon.

What I have learned over the past month…sometimes we simply need to sit by the water and rest.

I went away with intentions…to sit by the water, study scripture, and paint. Instead, I rested. I read books. (And did some Hurricane Milton clean-up…but let’s not dwell on that mess.)

What I walked away with at the end of the month is that I was tired on the deepest, almost desperate level.

I mostly turned off social media and the news. Some days I didn’t touch my phone for hours…sometimes I didn’t even know where it was or what time it was. In the rare moments when I picked it up, I could feel my anxiety rise again. So I put it back down.

And slowly, I began to understand what my soul had been needing all along.

We must rest. And we must turn down the noise.

We must sit beside still waters and simply be with God.

And sometimes, in that quiet, we have to ask ourselves:

When everything is turned off…when there are no distractions, what do I need to nourish my soul?

My counselor often asks, Where is your water being troubled and stirred? Where is it unsettled?

What is God asking you to examine, consider, adjust, repent, remove, or release from your life in order to find rest in Him?

Lay it before Him.

Lord, search me and know me. You are the God who sees. Help me to name what must be considered, adjusted, or removed so that I may draw closer to You—so that I may dwell with You in the meadow and be nourished by the Living Water.
[Genesis 16:13; Jeremiah 2:13]