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With grateful hearts, we share our thoughts on redemption through Jesus Christ and His saving blood and what it looks like in our daily walk.

We gladly welcome your comments and input.
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AND since we hold our conservative values dear, we might have a thing or two to say about politics... and we can almost guarantee it won't be politically correct.



Saturday, February 21, 2009

To Know God Is To Experience God

This story is continued from a previous post you can read here if you need the backstory.

What followed were tears of repentance. Repentance for my selfish clambering and my own striving.

“There is only one thing worth being concerned about… IT will not be taken away from me.”

All at once those four words “one thing is needful” melted my heart and made me feel as if I was literally being held in the palm of my Savior’s hand. It was so clear. He is my Father. He takes care of me. He knows my every thought, my every need, and my every hope and desire, spoken… or not. He was all that mattered at the moment. And He was so perfectly reminding me, He was all I needed to focus my heart on and He would take care of the rest. The things I knew in my head “about” God all came together at once in my heart. So real. So tangible. So… how God does in those moments of experiencing His presence.

I can still see myself drawing up the covers of the bed that day… so neatly tucking as if all my straightening would somehow make the confusion in my life go away. Turns out … that perfectly appointed bed made for a good place to flop prostrate and give way to worship. Worship of my Lord as I drank in His love. Those priceless tears of repentance, somehow, in those moments of spiritual cleansing, washing away all my self-focused consciousness and turning my heart instead to magnify my Lord. At once the light of God’s glory dispelled the darkness that was only a second before looming so largely in my thoughts.

“Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the life that is hid with Christ in God.” Chambers

It seems so easy. So simple. The way God helps us right when we need it. Yet in our complex world with complex lives we can so quickly lose sight of the eternal truths and practices we hold dear. The lie of the enemy is to make us think “no one else feels like I feel."

You see, those four words were reassuring. They reminded me to trust. They brought precious memories of God’s faithfulness in my life as I’ve learned to let go of ‘me’ and look into the mirror of His word for HIS purpose and HIS destiny for my life. They brought healing and peace because they connected with the most important part of me. The part of me that is the most alive, the part of me that is the most real, the part of me that will live forever… my spirit… connected to His Spirit. Deep calling to deep.

“Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. It is the one thing that is apt to fluctuate but it ought not to. The severest discipline of a Christian's life is to learn how to keep "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord." Chambers

To this day, all these years later, with those very same words, “one thing is needful”, God gently reminds me to turn to the One who loves me most and yield my entire soul. With economic downturns and world troubles, and generally bad news swirling around us constantly it is still the call coming from my Lord. With every agitating thought, every fear and every selfish motive I’m reminded He is the One thing I must have.

Give God my worship first. Give Him all my heart, all my trust no matter what else is going on in my life.

I can’t explain how… but He knows how to take care of me and everything else that concerns me.

6 comments:

Jane said...

Thanks for the encouragement this morning...I needed it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your heart with us!

gigi said...

"and they overcame him (the accuser of our brethren) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; ..." Rev. 12:11

it is good to share a personal experience that totally changes your life and helps others understand that we are all on this same journey together ... so let's be open and honest about how we are making it! it is a step by step, day by day learning to draw close to God and He will draw close to you ... and to always 'keep your eyes on Jesus'! thanks for your story and opening your heart!

Meems said...

mjm,
Yay for encouragement... we can all use a dose of it can't we?

arissamae,
Most welcome, my dear.

gigi,
It isn't always easy getting very real and personal experiences on paper. But it surely is good when we are reminded of them and the power they bring to our lives every single day. LOVE, LOVE Rev. 12:11.

marmee said...

it is His loving kindness that brings us to him. i love this quote,

"Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the life that is hid with Christ in God.” Chambers

if only it were simple to walk the walk. we are all in need of a Saviour and thank Jesus he loves us no matter what.

Meems said...

Marmee,
One of the things that draws me so to Chambers' writings is that no matter what he is saying the underpinnings to everything is ... keeping the relationship with our Savior first and foremost. I don't agree with every ounce of his theology but he really gets that part right IMO. Not only does he get the philosophy of it right one can tell from his writings that he lived it... he experienced it.

I can appreciate anyone who lives what they say.