God Is There…

THE LORD IS THERE. (Ezekiel 48:35)

Are you seeking God in the margins of your life? In the massive expanse of past and even ever-present mistakes? In the current stash of mess and excess and overwhelm?

Or, maybe your seeking Him in the solitude of an inescapable mournfulness or the certainty of an uncertain future?

And, in all the seeking, are you busy suffering and worrying and working your fingers to the bone to make sense or eliminate the whole of all that’s overwhelming and haunting?

Maybe a little bit? (If we’re being honest…)

Yeah?? Well, if we’re being honest, then I’m right there with you!

But, I want to assure us both that there’s no need to keep up all the fuss, because…

God is so right there with us both.

And, although God likely wasn’t the direct cause of what’s led us to this place (because that’s usually just the result of sin and our own brokenness), He has allowed whatever may be to actually be.

And, God Wants Your Heart

Because, there’s something better.

You see, there really is no secret formula with knowing God. Everything that He allows to happen in our lives – everything good and bad and not so good and even downright horrible – has an ultimate and greater purpose…

to draw our hearts… our whole selves, even… to Himself.

Simply because He wants us drawn to Himself more than He wants anything else.

More than any good behavior. More than our sacrifice. More than us serving. Even more than all the loving of others we can accomplish in a lifetime. (And, we all should know how much He wants that!)

More than anything else, God wants our hearts. Hearts turned toward Him. Hearts set on the pilgrimage that’s been purposed just for us by Him. Hearts that desire to be healed and made whole through Him.

Hearts that know that it’s His presence that will bring an eternal hope into our lives. And, bring the peace we so desperately long for. And, bring those gifts of grace and mercy and justice and love we all endlessly search out and are called to offer others.

And, God Is A Light

Hearts that know that His presence will ultimately bring all those mistakes and messes and excess into a Light of truth that will shine brightly upon them. A Light that will offer a new and corrected perspective about them. A Light that will also bring an expectation of what God can and will do in and through every bit of all of them.

If only we’ll allow Him.

Because, y’all… He’s offered us His very own heart.

And, God Knows

So, in every situation, we have a choice to make. In every moment of the day, actually. We can choose to think we know best (Because, my goodness… I mean, we’ve lived and learned and studied and read and done all the research, right?!) and we can follow our hearts in the matter to wherever all that knowledge will ultimately lead us…

Or, we can choose – instead – to rest our restless hearts and settle our unsettled minds and simply seek to know better the One Who knows the whole of the matter because, my Sweet Friends…

HE. IS. THE. ONE. WHO. KNOWS. ALL. THAT. WILL. EVER. MATTER.

And, God Is Good

…God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20)

And, then we can continue to choose to come into His presence regularly and park ourselves – park our very hearts – right at His feet. And, we can choose to trust His leading and believe that He will turn all things for His good because that’s WHO. He. Is.

Not because of what we’ve done or not done. Tried or not tried. Believed or not believed. Nor even one bit because of anything that we can or cannot do!

But, simply because He is a Good God and that’s just Him.

Even when we can’t see His goodness. Even in the margins and in the midst of our mistakes or mess or excess. Even in the pit of the deepest darkness or the bitterest sadness, God is still good. And, He still wants our heart above all.

I pray you will give Him that much.

Because – in Jesus Christ – He gave you all of His ❤