S is for Seeking

There are many things that I have sought and never found. The back of the earring that fell into the neck of my blouse and vanished there, that recipe that uses the rest of the ricotta in the fridge, even my husband's great grandmother's ruby and pearl ring are a few. Some are more important to me than others, but none of them is a guaranteed find. Father God's presence is another story altogether.

If I am seeking Him, He promises me I will find Him. He says He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, and the reward is Himself. The more my hunger to be with Him, to experience Him grows, the surer I am that it will be satisfied, because the hunger itself came from His own heart.

This is not an occasional happening. The more I find Him, the hungrier I am to find Him more. So the search goes on and on, deeper and deeper into His written word, into His manifest presence, into corporate times of seeking. There is no end to Him, so there is no end to the search.

I bless you today to seek Him earnestly and to enjoy having Father find you.

N is for Never Quit

Sometimes it's just so hard to feel the presence of Father God.  It's a rush-rush season. There are issues bugging me. The music is too loud or too weird. My body aches, itches or twitches. It's too hot or too cold to concentrate. We have hundreds of reasons, but whatever they are, we are in some "dry, deserted spot".  These wilderness times can last an hour, a week or for years. But Father doesn't deserve our attention because of how we feel. He deserves it because of the wonder of who He is.

Once, as I sat with Him, He gave me a mental picture of myself in a prison cell.  I was in a corner formed by concrete walls with no furniture at all, no books, nothing to write with and nobody around. I knew this was a picture of those who are suffering for their faith in Him. Then I felt Him ask me, "How much do I love them?" I was overwhelmed with the sense of His tender affection.  Again I felt the question, "What can they do to earn My love?" Of course, the answer is nothing at all.

I believe His heart is touched when we continue to seek Him in our driest times, those times when we feel we have nothing to offer and our prayers and devotions seem pointless and fruitless. When our times seeking Him don't feel comforting and there isn't any pleasure in them, He is still unchanging, still worthy of the worship of all of heaven and the earth. And He sees.

I bless you today to continue past negative circumstances and unlovely feelings to the bed-rock reality of communion with Father God, to never quit seeking no matter what.