Do You Believe Me?

[fusion_text]A few years ago, I was out on my back porch sweeping leaves when I sensed God asking me this question:  “Do you really believe me?”

For years, practically my whole life, I’ve been in church.  I have loved Jesus since I was 8 years old, following Him, praying through the years for people, events, children, jobs, decisions, finances.

But sometimes when you grow up in the middle of something it becomes so familiar.

As I swept that day, my immediate response was, Yes, Lord, of course. 

As those leaves got swept away, winter slowly pushed in.  December of that year arrived and with it brought an event that shook my soul in a way I never saw coming.

December brought the tragic killings at Sandy Hook Elementary.

That event shattered my heart as a mother, as a woman.  The pain of that fateful Friday morning, a rage aimed at children 5-10 years old, the very ages of my own, engulfed me.  And yes, children die all over the world, tragically, every single day.  But for whatever reason, this event wrecked me.  I had to write about it, this is what came out. 

And while I had purged my need to write and process it out, this was in no way “done” in me.

The snowglobe had been shook, and things weren’t falling back into place the way they had been.  The way they were suppose to.  The lack of realignment irritated me, but I couldn’t put all the pieces back, let alone remember how they all were before.

Ever feel like you need to re-learn God?

We want to understand God, don’t we?  We want to know that He can be counted on in the ways that we expect.  If we were honest, we might just wish that God would behave, or at least stay within the confines of the box we’ve created.

Oh, but He cannot be contained.

In her book “Believing God” (a book I re-devoured during this season), Beth Moore dispels this unachievable attempt at wrapping our human mind around an almighty God:

We cannot tame the Lion of Judah.  There is a mystery, a wonder, and yes, even a wildness about God we cannot take from Him.  Nor would we want to if we could grasp the adventure of Him.  If we can come up with a God we can fully explain, we have come up with a different God from the Bible’s.

He cannot be contained…this my heart has come to know.  Through my questioning, through my pain, though I have known Jesus for decades, He is still bigger than what my mind can comprehend.  His ways are not my ways, his thoughts are not my thoughts.

How then do we process that  in the dailyness of our lives? How does that play out in your life? 

Maybe you’re at a crossroads that you don’t understand and you’re left wondering why.  Maybe you’re in the middle of it all. Maybe you’ve got an overwhelming to-do list and you just don’t know how to get it all done.

This week, let’s spend time in these verses, soaking it in:

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 29:13-14 (NASB)

This is God’s open invitation to us to come close to Him, right in the middle of our pain and difficult questions, and seek Him.  An invitation to draw near to God Himself, because in doing so, He will be found.

So How Can We Soak In This Verse?

1.  Bring God your tough questions. Talk to Him about what’s going on in your heart. Ask Him to reveal ways that hinder you from seeking Him, to clear away anything that would distract you from what He has planned.  Tell Him the ways you want to seek Him more.

2.  Recognize the distraction.

• You are inundated every single day.  Sooooo much clamors for your attention, from social media to the news, radio, schedules, children, the tyranny of the urgent.  Think about how much information you take in within just 60 seconds on Facebook or Pinterest, countless thoughts, opinions and stories.  We take in so much information all the time.
• You are intentionally distracted by an intentional enemy.  Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy everything in our lives.  Ask God to give you eyes to see what’s really important.  Ask Him to reveal to you how you spend your time.

3.  Remember the invitation.  This invitation is ALWAYS OPEN.  Take time to remember that, wherever your day may find you – in the car, making dinner, doing homework.  His invitation is constant because God is faithful and He is forever pursuing you, because He loves you.

4.  Write it out.  Grab a 3×5 card, some card stock or a sticky note.  Write the verse down, in whatever version you have.  Read each word . . . slowly take it in.  Put your card up somewhere you can see it every day, the kitchen, your car.  Put them all over the house if you need to.  Memorize it.

5.  Follow up it up. Here’s some additional verses if you want a little extra.  Look at Psalm 27:8, Psalm 105:4, Genesis 3, I Peter 5:8-9

His ways are not our ways, but in the middle of our questions, He wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us.

This week, accept His invitation.

Seek Him with all your heart, knowing that He will be found.

_______________________

For additional encouragement and community throughout the week, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/womenwhobelieve.

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