early morning conversation

Don't you love it when you are in a deep sleep and you get woken up? I don't mean someone gently wakes you, or something outside stirs and so do you as you roll back over and your slumber continues. This is what happened to me this morning...

I was dreaming along, quite content to sleep until my alarm went off. Instead, God decided it was time for a Father/daughter chat. He began giving me images....a baby playing at the feet of it's mother, a child in tears running to it's daddy/mommy to be comforted, an angry teenager defused by a hug, a lost child whose whole face shines when the parent comes into sight, etc. All these images led back to Him. All these situations led me to His heart for me. All these situations were reflective of different times in life, even now as an adult, that I need Him. He reminded me that I am still His child. Even now, at 41 years of age, I am His child. Children find comfort, peace, and security in their parents. They desire to be near them....they don't have to be touching them, they don't have to be talking to them...no, they just want to be in their presence and all is well with the world.
God began to show me some things that are on my heart and mind right now and He again gave me some images to assist me so that I could truly understand what He was telling me. I need to be in His presence...not just while these situations are going on, but always! If I stray, I will feel like that child who is sobbing and searching only to catch a glimpse of my Daddy's face so that I can once again feel His security.
But here is the thing.....HE NEVER STEPS AWAY! HE NEVER SAYS TO ME THAT I HAVE TO WAIT BECAUSE HE IS TOO BUSY! HE NEVER SAYS MY PAIN ISN'T GREAT ENOUGH TO APPROACH HIM! Instead, He is always present, always waiting, always joyful that I want to be near Him, always there to comfort me, always there to answer me....are you getting this??!! THE ONLY TIME I AM ALONE IS WHEN I CHOOSE TO BE! Hallelujah Jesus....
The other clear image is that the closer to Him I am, the more my life reflects Him...the more my actions glorify Him....the more my attitudes change for Him....God is good! God is good!

You see, over the last year or two God has really been reinventing me....my responses, my emotions, my reactions, my personality, my behaviors, etc. He is showing me that my old ways of responding aren't His ways. He is reminding me that there was a time that my life looked a whole lot different....and He still loved me...and He forgave me....and He offered up His life so that mine would be eternal. He reminded me that even those things that I find unforgivable can be turned to glorify Him. He spoke into me that if I just go to Him with ALL things before reacting or responding, He would not let me down...He is in control! Our God already knows the outcome....and in knowing that, I don't have to live in worry or fear or have misplaced emotion because I now live to glorify the King!

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Ephesians 4:22-24 "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

He also reminded me that He forgave me....it doesn't matter the weight of the sin in earthly terms, because His blood covers all. That means that I, too, need to be forgiving and to leave judgment/punishment/etc to the Hands that hold it all. Thank You Jesus for taking that burden off my life!!!!

Ephesians 4:31-32 " Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

I know that forgiveness is one of the hardest things I had to be taught. I thank You Jesus for forgiving me and teaching me Your ways and holding me close enough to not only save me, but bring me into such a loving relationship with You that my whole life and everything it ever looked like has changed. God, I just ask that you use me in ways that only You can to glorify Your name, to win lost souls for You, to bring the hurting to the Healer and to grow closer to You each and every day. Jesus I love you and I thank You and I worship You and I adore You!