Solitude With God Repairs the Damage

Oswald Chambers said, “Solitude with God repairs the damage done by the world.”

In the past I would read something like that and nod with complete agreement, but not really practice it.

For years, I would move close to the idea of solitude like it was something I could get used to but not truly commit to. A morning devotional here, a few quiet moments in the car there. But to actually be alone. To be truly alone, for days at a time, that felt foreign. Honestly? It felt very scary.

So I trained for it.

Like a muscle, I worked my way up. A day here. A weekend there. Eventually, I took a full week by myself, just me and God. To my favorite place on the planet, Hawaii. No agenda. No one to manage. No one to distract me from… well…me. It was hard and one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself. 

Solitude is not comfortable.It starts with restlessness. My brain in overdrive, flipping through my crazy thoughts like a mad woman. I think of the calls I didn’t return, the deadlines next week, the questions I’ve been avoiding. It’s all there. Loud!

But if I stay…just stay with the silence, something begins to shift.The noise begins to quiet. The tension in my shoulders loosens. I breathe a little deeper. And somewhere in that stillness, I hear the true Source of life again. Not in thunder and lightning or fire, but in a whisper that reminds me:I am enough for you and you are enough right here with me.

I talk to people all the time who say they can’t even sit still for two minutes. If that’s you, start with one minute.If that feels like too much, try thirty seconds.It’s not about the length of time. It’s about the courage to begin.

When we get tired, when we get weary, we often do more instead of less.The inner critic wakes up:"You didn’t do enough.”Which quickly becomes, “You aren’t enough.”

But what if rest isn’t a reward, but a requirement?What if solitude isn’t punishment, but the pathway back to peace?

Psalm 23 tells us:He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside still waters.He restores my soul.

Restoration doesn’t happen in the hustle.It happens in stillness. In quiet places. On mountainsides and lakeshores. In rental cabins and long drives with no music on. It happens when we let go of the lie that we have to earn our worth, and remember that we were made for communion. Not just with people, but with God.

The world will try to convince us otherwise.It will whisper that we need more. More people, more achievement, more control. It will use fear and guilt to keep us in motion.

But there is a truth that lies just beneath the noise.

There’s a destiny waiting to be revealed,A deeper peace that can only be discovered when we release our grip on comfortable, easy, and safe.

I dare you to go there.To get quiet enough to hear what your spirit has been trying to tell you.It won’t be easy.But it will be right.

Because solitude with God doesn’t just pause the damage.It repairs it.It heals the worn out places.It rewrites the story.

And when we return from that sacred place, we don’t come back with hustle.We come back light. Free. Inspired.We return with fire in our bones and purpose in our steps.Not because we pushed harder, but because we rested deeper.