Experiencing God

I’m reading What Happens When Women Walk in Faith, by Lysa TerKeurst and I have to say it’s a book that anyone would be blessed to read; it’s opening my eyes to so many things.  I’m learning to understand the different stages in my faith and life; to not only accept them, but to live through each one of them while not just holding onto my faith, but allowing it to grow.  

As I was reading this morning a particular quote really struck a chord with me, being honest over half of the book has struck a chord with me and is highlighted and hand written in. In chapter 19 it says “The realization hit me hard: The joy of the journey is not simply reaching the Promised Land.  The real joy was experiencing God throughout all the phases of joy.” Think about that for just a minute.  What would happen if we took each day, each step and truly looked for the joy in it and allowed it to bring us closer to God?

This seems to be where I am at in my life right now.  I want to pause and take in God; to absorb all of His splendor and glory.  Does this mean that there still aren’t things that need worked on or “fixed” if you will; No.  In fact there are some very important things that truly need to be worked out, but nothing will be resolved in my worry and trying to take things into my own hands.  Instead, right now, right where I am in this messy thing we call life I am going to allow God to use me and experience Him in each phase, struggle and triumph. 

You know, sometimes we can get so caught up in what we need, what is wrong or how bad a situation is right now that we forget just how good He’s been to us.  He’s been faithful to me, carried me through many hurts and disappointments.  He’s restored my joy and comforted my pain…always showing me that He loves me and for that I’m grateful.  It’s easy to point out the bad, but I’m challenging myself to find the good…no matter what my feelings or emotions tell me, I am determined to remember just who He is and how really amazing that is.