In His Presence
I like to write on my blog at least twice a week, but I have discovered that nursing school is an 8:00 AM - 12:00 AM job, and by the time 12:30 AM rolls around, I am quite ready to crawl into bed and sleep. This is the first time this week that I have had enough time to sit down, breathe, and write, so I apologize that I will not be posting as often as I would like to this semester. Still, I want to share with you what has been on my heart.
This weekend, we had a spiritual retreat for my social club that was centered on worship. The theme was "come away with me", which is taken from the Song of Solomon. This unusual book of the Bible can be read as the romantic love story of a husband and wife, but it can also be read as the romantic love story between God and us.
Our God is a romantic God. He loves us desperately and desires an intimate personal relationship with us. God created the love between a husband and wife to help us understand the kind of love that He has for us and the kind of relationship He desires to have with us.
This weekend, we embraced God's invitation to come away with Him. We relaxed in His arms, leaned against His chest, rested in His embrace, and listened to His heart. We came to Him in worship and adoration to love on Him and soak up His love for us.
After a hectic week, there was nothing I needed more than hours of quiet rest in the presence of the Lord, who is my Lover, my Husband, my Bridegroom.
The focus of the retreat was this: God's presence is the ultimate treasure. Not His works, not His gifts, not His blessings. His presence. Just Him being Himself. That's all we need, all we seek, all we pursue, and all we desire. In His presence, we find inexplainable peace and unfathomable joy.
I love spending hours upon hours in worship, quietness, and stillness of soul. This summer, I spent a lot of uninterrupted time in God's presence like that. This semester, however, I have missed that immensely. I don't get to spend hours in His presence with nothing else on my agenda. It is just impossible, so I am learning to experience a different kind of God's presence. This kind of presence is explained in Psalm 89:15.
"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD."
In order to experience God's presence, we don't have to go away for hours. Sometimes, it is a step by step journey. It is walking in His presence, stepping one foot in front of the other. Just because my day is busy and crazy doesn't mean that I don't have time to spend with the Lord in worship and rest. I am learning to be in His presence every moment throughout the day. I may not have hours of uninterrupted silence, but I can live every moment in His presence as I walk with Him step by step in my day.
What does that look like? Well, I am still learning. But right now, it just means that I pray for God to be in my thoughts constantly. I pray that He will pop into my head often, and He has been faithful to answer that prayer. It means that I sing to Him in my head as I walk around campus and that I pray to Him when I have no one to talk to. It means that I carry my Bible with me in my backpack so that when I have fifteen minutes between classes, I can plop down on the grass and read a Psalm in the middle of the day.
God's presence is the greatest treasure, this I believe with all my heart. Sometimes we need to make time to come away with God for hours and soak up His presence deeply. Other times, we need to come away with Him moment by moment, taking little sips of His love and grace throughout the day. Sometimes we bask in worship, and other times we walk in it step by step. Both are important and necessary. And both are precious and beautiful, for God's presence is the ultimate treasure.
This weekend, we had a spiritual retreat for my social club that was centered on worship. The theme was "come away with me", which is taken from the Song of Solomon. This unusual book of the Bible can be read as the romantic love story of a husband and wife, but it can also be read as the romantic love story between God and us.
Our God is a romantic God. He loves us desperately and desires an intimate personal relationship with us. God created the love between a husband and wife to help us understand the kind of love that He has for us and the kind of relationship He desires to have with us.
This weekend, we embraced God's invitation to come away with Him. We relaxed in His arms, leaned against His chest, rested in His embrace, and listened to His heart. We came to Him in worship and adoration to love on Him and soak up His love for us.
After a hectic week, there was nothing I needed more than hours of quiet rest in the presence of the Lord, who is my Lover, my Husband, my Bridegroom.
The focus of the retreat was this: God's presence is the ultimate treasure. Not His works, not His gifts, not His blessings. His presence. Just Him being Himself. That's all we need, all we seek, all we pursue, and all we desire. In His presence, we find inexplainable peace and unfathomable joy.
I love spending hours upon hours in worship, quietness, and stillness of soul. This summer, I spent a lot of uninterrupted time in God's presence like that. This semester, however, I have missed that immensely. I don't get to spend hours in His presence with nothing else on my agenda. It is just impossible, so I am learning to experience a different kind of God's presence. This kind of presence is explained in Psalm 89:15.
"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD."
In order to experience God's presence, we don't have to go away for hours. Sometimes, it is a step by step journey. It is walking in His presence, stepping one foot in front of the other. Just because my day is busy and crazy doesn't mean that I don't have time to spend with the Lord in worship and rest. I am learning to be in His presence every moment throughout the day. I may not have hours of uninterrupted silence, but I can live every moment in His presence as I walk with Him step by step in my day.
What does that look like? Well, I am still learning. But right now, it just means that I pray for God to be in my thoughts constantly. I pray that He will pop into my head often, and He has been faithful to answer that prayer. It means that I sing to Him in my head as I walk around campus and that I pray to Him when I have no one to talk to. It means that I carry my Bible with me in my backpack so that when I have fifteen minutes between classes, I can plop down on the grass and read a Psalm in the middle of the day.
God's presence is the greatest treasure, this I believe with all my heart. Sometimes we need to make time to come away with God for hours and soak up His presence deeply. Other times, we need to come away with Him moment by moment, taking little sips of His love and grace throughout the day. Sometimes we bask in worship, and other times we walk in it step by step. Both are important and necessary. And both are precious and beautiful, for God's presence is the ultimate treasure.
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