God’s Faithfulness
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Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. – James 4:8
My cousin used to have a poster in her room with a kitten hanging from a limb of a tree. The caption read, “If you feel far away from God, guess who moved?”
I think that we go through seasons in our Christian walk, just as we do in all other areas of our lives. We have seasons of wandering through the desert and feeling so far from God. Then, there are the seasons of just going through the motions when we aren’t necessarily feeling far from God, but we’re not sitting on the lap of our Abba Father and resting in His comfort either.
Then, there is spring. That glorious season of warmth and sunshine and rebirth when everything is new and fresh and green and you can sense the presence of God in every area of your life – that season in which you have made the effort to draw near to God and He has kept His promise by drawing near to you.
See, God is like that. He keeps His promises. If you feel far away from God, guess who moved? Yeah, that’d be you…or me, as the case may be.
For the last several weeks (months??) I’ve been making the effort to spend time with my Heavenly Father, by praying and reading His word. I really can’t remember how long I’ve been doing this, which is very significant, since it’s usually been so long since I have read His Word that I can’t remember when the last time was. And, wow! What a difference it’s made in my life.
I’ve been praying that God would teach me how to make Him the center of my life, rather than simply a peripheral. As I told the kids today, praying God’s word is a powerful thing. When you want what He wants, you’re going to get it! I can feel the changes that God is making in me. I can see the areas in which He’s teaching me.
A few weeks ago, I let my tongue get away with me. I was so sorrowful and repentant for what I’d said. The very next morning, God took me to the book of James where He reminded me of the power of the tongue and man’s inability to control it. He let me know that He knows how hard it is to control the tongue and that my struggle is not unique. Then, He took me to Psalms (103:8-13) where He reminded me:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him
My Heavenly Father loves me enough to remind me that we all mess up. He knows that we will. He knew that we would when He sent His Son to die on the cross for us. And, He still loves us. He won’t withhold His love or forgiveness from me any more than I would withhold love and forgiveness from my children when they make mistakes.
I have so much more to say about what God has been showing me and doing in my life, but the afternoon is getting away from me and we still have school to finish. I’ll post more later, but this has really been on my heart to post for awhile and I wanted to get it down while I have a minute. Have a wonderful day!
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
Thank you so much for sharing thoughts from your spiritual walk, Kris. Beautiful stuff, and everything just seems drenched in grace.
And I often find myself thinking about those verses in James, especially how he mentions that our tongue is like the rudder of a ship, something so small can steer us … So true.