When the Stream Slows
Letting Abba Lift the Stone I Chose to Release
Awakening to What Dried Up
Seven years ago, something inside me went quiet.
Where the Life of God once flowed through me like a rushing stream —
joyful, vibrant, alive —it had slowed to a faint trickle.
Not gone… but barely moving.
So I asked the only One who knew the truth.
“Papa… what happened?”
In a moment, He gave me a vision.
I saw a creek bed — dry, cracked, almost empty.
But then He lifted my eyes to the source:
an underground spring of fresh, clear water…
the water was there.
It simply couldn’t rise.
Why?
Because I had placed stones over the spring.
Stones of fear.
Stones of striving.
Stones of self-reliance.
Stones of approval from others.
Stones arranged neatly — almost beautifully — yet blocking His flow.
Then He rolled up His sleeves and whispered with a smile,
“Let’s clear these out together.”
One by one, we moved stones —
large and small, obvious and subtle —
until only one remained.
A breathtakingly beautiful stone.
Deep shades of blue — my favorite color — streaked with gold.
“What about that one?” I asked.
“Not yet,” He said.
“The time is coming soon.”
The Work of Love
Later that same day, during a worship service, I prayed what felt like full surrender:
“Lord, I’ll do whatever You want.
I’ll give up anything.”
And gently, but unmistakably, I sensed Him ask:
“What about your reputation?”
It hit like lightning —that beautiful blue-and-gold stone was the Stone of Reputation.
In an instant, He removed it.
And when He did, He revealed the truth beneath it:
I had been looking to others for what only Abba could give —
identity, affirmation, worth, and love.
It had become my idol, something I valued more than Him.
He didn’t crush me with this revelation.
He freed me through it.
He cleared what I couldn’t see.
And into that newly emptied space,
He poured Himself back in.
Then He made me a promise:
“Mark, you will never again see yourself from a place outside My love.
And more than that —you will never again look upon anyone, enemy or neighbor, without seeing My love for them.”
This is what happens when the last stone lifts.
The stream runs freely again.
The Dangerous Prayer of Surrender
Soon after, He invited me deeper.
My prayer had been:
“I will do whatever You want.”
But He whispered,
“That still keeps you at the center.
Try this instead:
‘Abba, You do with me as You will.’”
And I realized —this is precisely what Jesus taught us:
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The first “earth” He transforms is the earth of my own soul.
His heaven in me.
His love forming me.
His life flowing through me.
Surrender isn’t losing, it’s removing the stone so Love can flow again.
When His will is done “on earth”—in my earth—heaven flows into the world around me.
Reflection
What stones might you have placed over the stream of your own heart?
Where is Abba asking you to loosen your grip so He can lift what you cannot?
How would your life change to truly pray, “Abba, You do with me as You will”?
Prayer