Being better...

"When I am down, and oh, my soul so weary; when troubles come, and my heart burdened be; then I am still, and wait here in the silence, until You come, and sit awhile, with me..."

Oh, my.  Is this what I need?  You know, it is said that there is a God-shaped hole in each of us; a hunger, a thirst, an ache for love that CANNOT be satisfied by any other relationship.  THIS is the truest statement EVER uttered, spoken, screamed, signed, etc. 

The reason I can say that, and KNOW that it is a 100% true statement is...I am living it right now.  I KNOW that there is a part of me that cannot, I repeat, CANNOT live without Him...without Jesus.  Without His Holy Spirit living inside me, and guiding me. And I know He's in me, because I asked Him to come in a couple years ago.

Here's the deal.  I want to be a better friend, and a better daughter.  I have been studying in the Old Testament for several months.  I wanted, no, I NEEDED to learn how to relate to God in a Father/daughter relationship, and that is a hard row to plow, having not had a earthly father figure to show me (but I digress...that's for another story on another day).  I'm NOT saying that I am not a good enough friend and daughter today; what I am saying is that I am not satisfied with where I am.  God says to "seek His face"; to "seek Him while He may be found"; to "seek first His Kingdom, and all these things will be added...", so that is what I intend to do.  I have found that what I desire the most, that is what I will pursue the hardest.  (Think about what YOU desire the most; isn't that what YOU pursue the hardest?)

So, in my pursuit of becoming a better friend, I began to read about God's friends, those He used mightily.  I found Abraham, called "friend of God".  There was Noah, who "found favor in the sight of God"; Job, who was a "righteous man", a man of integrity.  And at the end of my reading thus far, I found David.  David is known by most everyone as the "man after God's own heart."

Who doesn't want to be known in that intimate way?  I know I do.  David is the most inspiring, for me.  He had humble beginnings; he was Jesse's youngest son, a shepherd, with a call of God on his life.  He didn't start out as a giant killer, or as a king, as an adultered or murderer, or as a Psalmist.  He started out in the field.  He didn't have a position at the top of the ladder, he began on the bottom rung.  He didn't always act right, but He was a seeker.  He knew His God.  He knew deep in his being that he needed God, because he was imperfect...just like the rest of us.  JUST LIKE ME. 

I encourage you today.  Spend time thanking God for your humble beginnings.  Sometimes, we don't get to start out on the top.  We have to "build an alter" to the Lord, with the rubble that He found us in.  If we (I) were always on top, we (I) may forget that.  Let it continuously and consistently be said of those who seek His face, "They are seeking after God's own heart." 

Velvet