Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Tuning In to the Inflow of Life
To become still, sense connection to God as the source of life, and let that life flow in and recharge body and mind before any healing work.
Tuning In in 5 lines: Same time, same place — be still and let worry go. Remind yourself of a life greater than your own, present like current in the wires. Open the channel: “increase in me Your life-giving power.” Let it flow in without straining. Rest a few minutes in thanks, recharged — then begin your healing prayer or your day.
What it is
This is the “abiding” or recharging step that, in The Healing Light (1947), precedes any of Agnes Sanford’s healing prayer: become quiet, deliberately turn your attention to a “life outside yourself,” and let that life flow into you.
Sanford’s central image is electricity — God’s creative power “fills the whole universe,” but “only the amount of it that flows through our own beings will work for us,” so the work is to become a clear, connected channel and let it recharge you. It is contemplative tuning-in, not asking for anything yet.
The Method
- Settle into stillness. “Be still and know that I am God.” Same time, same place daily; get comfortable, relax, and lay aside worry and hurry.
- Remind yourself of the source. Deliberately “remind yourself of the reality of a life outside yourself” — a power greater than your own, present and available. Sanford’s metaphor: the power is like current in the wires; you are connecting the appliance.
- Open the channel and invite the inflow. “Heavenly Father, please increase in me at this time Your life-giving power.” “Ask that life to come in and increase life in your body.” Sanford spoke of “turn[ing] on the light of God within.”
- Receive, and rest in thanks. Let it flow; don’t strain. “Thank You, that Your life is now coming into me and increasing life in my spirit and in my mind and in my body.” Stay a few quiet minutes, simply abiding in the sense of being recharged. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are short excerpts from / faithful paraphrase of Sanford’s text as reproduced in published excerpts.)
Source & Lineage
Agnes Sanford (1897–1982), founder of the modern Inner Healing movement, taught this connect-and-recharge step throughout The Healing Light. Her “inflow of life” descends from the New Thought practice of “entering the silence” and “the receptive silence” (Trine, Dresser, Hamblin) and from contemplative Christian abiding (John 15’s “abide in me”), reframed with her vivid electricity-and-light imagery.
The Traditions' versions
New Thought “entering the silence” — becoming still and receptive to the Infinite.,
- “Be still and know” — the same scriptural anchor used as a stilling practice.
- Brother Lawrence / practice of the presence — continual quiet awareness of God.,
- Centering prayer — silent consent to God’s presence and action within.
- Energy “recharge” framings — qigong/inner-smile style replenishment, secular relaxation.
Common refinements
Rushing to ask. This step is receptive; skipping straight to petitions defeats the recharge. Tune in first.
- Straining to “feel” the energy. Sanford’s tone is restful; effort and self-monitoring block the very relaxation that helps. Let it be quiet.
- No regularity. She stressed “the same time and the same place every day” — the habit is what builds the capacity.
- Treating felt warmth/tingling as proof. Those are ordinary relaxation sensations; don’t over-interpret them.
- Using it to bypass real needs. Recharge supports action and care; it doesn’t replace them.