God is with You

June 20, 2017

God is “EveryWHEN”

whenI just completed a series on God being everywhere, which got me thinking about how God is also “everyWHEN” – that God is not limited by time. Those of you who were blessed with scientific brains might be thinking, “Duh!,” but I was not blessed with such a brain, so bear with me. I never took a Physics course. My science-challenged brain has a difficult time wrapping around the concept of God existing outside of the confines of time and space.

Rich Mullins wrote the following lyrics in his song, Nothing is Beyond You:

Time cannot contain You. You fill eternity.”

This helps me apply what I have been processing about God being everywhere to His transcendence of time. Just as God is “too big” to be contained by space, He is also “too big” to be contained by time. My linear mind has trouble grasping this concept. I’ll probably have to spend a lot of time meditating on this reality to even begin to get this. Just writing this paragraph is making my non-scientific brain cramp!

If I could truly grasp and believe that God exists outside of time, I would find it so much easier to trust Him with my future because He already sees it and is already there! He’s not just a good guesser or playing the odds that the suffering I am experiencing today is likely to produce a harvest in the future. He KNOWS this because He is already there looking at that harvest. My poor brain cannot process this!

This is one reason why God wants me living in the present. When I envision the future, it’s often without God’s presence, which is not possible because He is already there. I’ll worry that X, Y, or Z might happen and construct contingency plans for how I will deal with those issues if they arise, but my worry excludes the presence of God. I’ll never experience one second of my life without God, which makes worry a complete waste of time.

This is not a topic that I’ve been pondering yet – I’m still working on wrapping my mind around God being everywhere – so I don’t have much to say about it. At this point in my journey, I have more questions than answers, but I can see how I could much more easily rest in God’s provision by resting in the reality that God is “everyWHEN.”

[Graphic: Cartoon of Grace holding a pocket watch under the word, “When?” Courtesy Bitmoji.]

June 19, 2017

A Lesson in Humility

airplane_take_offContinued from here.

I continued my meditation on the enormity of God as I flew to visit a friend out of state. As I looked out the airplane’s window, I considered the reality that God fills all of this space! He fills the plane, the atmosphere as far up as I could see, all the way down to the earth thousands of feet below, and every house peppering the landscape below.

And that was only as far as I could see! In that moment, He was also surrounding the Alps in Switzerland, the tropical fish at the Great Barrier Reef, and the penguins in Antarctica. Our God is truly massive!

Then, I thought about myself in comparison. I was taking up this little sliver is space in the middle seat of one airplane, wedged between my son and a stranger. The God of the Universe is EVERYWHERE, and I’m in this teeny tiny space. So, why do I often act as if the world revolves around me?

When I consider the mammoth size of God (actually, He makes a mammoth look teeny tiny), how distorted is my world view when I behave as if the world is supposed to cater to my desires? How could I possibly have any expectation that the rest of the world should defer to my whims?

And then consider my arrogance in trying to bend God to my will. How dare I tell God that He should do X, Y, and Z when my perspective is so severely limited. He sees EVERYTHING while I cannot even see through the seat of the person sitting in front of me on an airplane. How ludicrous of me to presume to know better than God how my life should go.

In my humanity, my own comfort often fills the frame of my perspective: what I want, need, or desire. So, what I view as “good” or “bad” is based on this teeny tiny sliver of space that I inhabit. Only God sees the whole picture. Only He is in the position to know what is truly “good” or “bad” because He sees the needs of EVERYONE. And He is good, so He cares.

C.S. Lewis said,

True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

When I think about the enormity of our God – that He is, quite literally, EVERYWHERE, I am deeply humbled as I take my eyes off myself and place them onto my God, where they belong.

[Graphic: Cartoon of Grace waving through an airplane window above the words, “Ready for take off.” Courtesy Bitmoji.]

June 16, 2017

No Longer a Victim

heartsContinued from here.

I cannot remember who said this (probably Joyce Meyer or Beth Moore): we live what we believe, not what we know. I knew that I had on the Armor of God, but I believed I was a victim. Thus, I behaved as a victim rather than a warrior, metaphorically cowering in my church’s parking lot like a wounded child rather than standing up and fighting, using the Armor of God.

My problem was believing that God is distant, with the Holy Spirit being my “walkie talkie” lifeline to Him. I saw the world as an unsafe place, with God always with me in more of a long distance way … like a Skype relationship rather than a face-to-face one. Through His book The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God, Williard has blown this lie to smithereens!

Willard points out that God is located everywhere, viewing the most beautiful places and hearing the most beautiful sounds of the world while also surrounding me. Because of this reality, I have complete access to unbounding love, joy, and peace at all times. This is the truth that Jesus knew, enabling Him to be joyful despite also being a man of suffering and pain.

To help me process this reality, I have been seeking to view the world through spiritual eyes, recognizing that no matter where my eyes look, the God who created the universe is there. Whether I look up to the cloud or stars, down into a valley, or as far as I can see over the ocean, He is there. This means there’s nowhere I can go without being surrounded by boundless love, joy, and peace. This makes this world a safe place, regardless of what my past experience has been.

This also means that the vast majority of this world is filled with God. There are only pockets of places that aren’t, which are inhabited by people who choose to reject God. They are the masters of their own space, and when they congregate, they create a bigger bubble of rebellion against God. However, compared to the enormity of the earth – the mountains, oceans, and everything in between, they are a small percentage of this world. Even when I am in their presence, the God who created the heavens and earth is both around me and in me, so I am never in an “unsafe” place. Where there is God, there is limitless love, joy, and peace for the asking.

Continued here.

[Graphic: Cartoon of Grace surrounded by hearts. Courtesy Bitmoji.]

June 15, 2017

Living in a Safe World Because of the Presence of God

god_is_biggerContinued from here.

I have been sharing my journey of processing something I learned in Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God. Willard talks about the reality that God is located everywhere simultaneously, which has profound meaning when you truly consider the implications of this truth.

I ended my last blog entry by saying that the only part of this earth that isn’t filled with the presence of God is people – all those who remain separated from Him by their own choice. I said this has deep implications for someone like me, who was severely abused in childhood and grew up viewing this world as an unsafe place. Let me elaborate on what I mean by this.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was a man of suffering who was familiar with pain. I never think of Jesus in this way because he was so joyful. (See Luke 10:21 and Heb. 12:2.) How could Jesus be both a man of suffering & pain AND a man of joy?

Willard says that Jesus was joyful because he saw the world through spiritual eyes. He knew the world was a safe place because it was filled with God.

Being fearful of living in an unsafe world has been my state of being for my entire life. When the illusion of safety is stripped away from you as a young child through people doing things to your body and spirit that should never be done, you grow up believing that the world is an unsafe place. This shapes your personality, putting you always “on your guard” – always looking for ways to protect yourself through either fight or flight. In other words, you grow into an adult with a victim mentality.

But God does not want us living our lives through victim’s eyes. He has made us victorious through Jesus, and He wants us approaching life through the eyes of a victor, not a victim.

God gave me a powerful visual of this a few years ago. I was falling prey to my tendency toward viewing myself as a victim, and God gave me a picture of myself cowering like a small child in my church’s parking lot while wearing the Armor of God. I clearly had everything I needed to be victorious in a fight, but I was behaving like the helpless abused child I was rather than the Warrior of God that I am.

Continued here.

[Graphic: Photograph of a wooden plaque that says, “God is bigger.” Courtesy Grace Daniels.]

June 14, 2017

The Earth is Surrounded by God

lucerneContinued from here.

In my last blog entry, I shared how Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God has got me thinking about the enormity of our God. While I knew that God is always with me, I had not pondered the significance of God always being with everyone, everywhere.

In my quiet time with God, who I know is with me in the room, I started thinking about where else God is at that very moment: watching the sun rise over a body of water somewhere in the world … watching the sun set over a different body of water somewhere in the world … watching the beautiful mountains over Lake Lucerne … watching the tropical fish swimming by the Great Barrier Reef …

It hit me that the whole earth really IS filled with the glory of God. I always thought of this concept as the earth reflecting His glory while He is located in a distance place (Heaven), with the Holy Spirit serving as my “walkie talkie” connection to this distant God. However, I’m awakening to the reality that the earth is filled with the presence of God! This has profound implications for His children.

I have been practicing “seeing” the world through my spiritual eyes, which means that I am “seeing” the presence of God in every nook and cranny around me. When I drive down the road, I am “driving through God,” who fills the earth. The leaves of the trees rustle through Him as the gentle breeze blows. The flowers offer their beautiful colors into the presence of the LORD Almighty who, in a very real sense, surrounds them.

In fact, the only part of this earth that isn’t filled with the presence of God is people – all those who remain separated from Him by their own choice. This has deep implications for someone like me, who was severely abused in childhood and grew up viewing this world as an unsafe place.

Continued here.

[Graphic: Photograph of Grace in front of the Swiss mountains over Lake Lucerne. Courtesy Grace Daniels.]

June 13, 2017

The Enormity of Our God

I am reading Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God, which is one of the most profound books I have ever read (after the Bible, of course). I am learning so much from Willard, and I will likely be blogging about various topics he raises as I process what he has to say. Right now, I am processing the enormity of God.

As I have shared before, one of the four fundamental beliefs of Christianity is that God is always with us. This is a truth I frequently remind myself of when I am struggling. As life is filled with struggles, it’s safe to say that this is a truth I meditate upon quite a bit. Through The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God, I am coming to understand and appreciate this truth in a much deeper way.

Willard walked me through understanding the enormity of this truth (and the enormity of our God) by asking me to think about the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I immediately thought about the mountains of Switzerland over Lake Lucerne. Willard pointed out that God always sees that sight … and the tropic fish swimming in the ocean … and the beaches of Hawaii (OK, I added the part about Hawaiian beaches, but you get the point).

He then said to think about the most beautiful sound you ever heard. I thought about a classical music concert I attended in Vienna. One song was so unbelievable beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. It touched my soul in ways I cannot put into words. God hears that song all the time!

While I have reminded myself repeatedly that God is always with me, even when I cannot “feel” His presence, I had not pondered the reality that while He is with me, He is also in these other places, soaking in the beauty of His creation all over the world. This concept has profound implications that I will address in my next blog entry.

Continued here.

[Graphic: Cover of The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God. Courtesy Amazon.]

January 26, 2017

Four Fundamental Beliefs: God is Always with You

u_thereContinued from here.

One of my greatest fears used to be abandonment. I was insecure in all of my relationships and feared the day that the other person would inevitably leave, breaking my heart in the process.

I’m sure my father’s sudden death when I was 16 years old contributed to this fear. One day, my father left for a business trip and never came home. Just like “that,” he was gone. In a moment, my life as I had known it was over, and I had to figure out a way for my life to be OK without my father in it.

I struggled with being a “control freak” throughout much of my adult life because I wanted to guarantee that my life would never shift so drastically again. However, I could not control loss. Friendships ends. People move away. Relationships drift apart. People die. This is all part of life. The only guarantee we have in life is that it is going to change.

And yet…

There is one relationship that will NEVER go away. I have one safe haven in this ever-changing world that I never, ever have to worry about losing, and that is God. He will never die, move away, get bored with me, lose interest in me, or abandon me. He is my solid ground in a world filled with shifting sand. He is the one true thing I can count on — He is always with me.

If you have invited Jesus into your heart, you are never alone. Never! You never need to feel abandoned, alone, or forgotten because He is Lahai Roi, the God who sees you.

When nobody else sees all that you do behind the scenes, God does. When everyone else abandons you, the God of the universe is right there with you. When you cry yourself to sleep, He is there and sees every tear. And when you face down your enemies, you are never alone.

Rest in the reality that your God is ALWAYS with you. In this ever-changing life, He is the one thing that will never, ever change – the One you can always count on.

Continued here.

[Graphic: Cartoon of Grace peeking over a text bubble that says, “u there?” Courtesy Bitmoji.]