Presence

Almost 3 months later I finally decide to blog again.  Let's be honest I've let the blog kind of die over the last year.  3 reasons for this 1) who really reads it? 2) My life is way less fascinating now that I don't live in NYC 3) So many other things have taken priority over writing.  But the thing is I really love to write.  I love to keep a scrapbook of my life.  And as my 7th blog book arrived in the mail I realized what a keepsake this blog is to me.  So once again I've going to try to write. And just maybe I'll post more than once every couple months.

It's February now so definitely not the beginning of the year, but 5 weeks in I've finally landed on my word for the year.  This has been a tradition of mine for about 8 years.  It's something I've done with staff teams, Community groups, and friends.  Every year I pick a word that stands out to me and a passage of scripture and that my word to focus on for the year.  Every year the Lord leads me to a different word and every year I see him work in me and through me as this words becomes a part of my world.  This past year was more like 2 words, "Immeasurably More"  You can read about why I picked it HERE.  Last year was such a big year for me.  It was a full year in a new city with so many ups and downs, but man did I see the Lord teach me to trust Him in bigger ways, to see him as a bigger God, and to believe that He could do immeasurably more than all I could ever ask or imagine.  I still have this verse by my bed and pray it almost every day as I see to live and minister in the hope of a big God who can so much more than I could ever dream.  I'm seeing that very specifically in my life right now.  Maybe one day I'll do a whole blog post on specific ways I've seen this.  But for now I'll move on to the 2016 word.  It took me a long time to come to a place of being able to settle.  Maybe I over analyze this too much but then I caught something that I was praying on a regular basis on my own and with others.  I was consistently asking the Lord that I (and others) would live fully in the presence of  God.  And then the word just popped one day and wouldn't leave, PRESENCE.

There is not much in life that is a guarantee and we all know that life can be so super hard, but the simple truth I have continually been reminded of lately is that the presence of God does not waiver.  There is no  depth that we can go to where the presence of the Lord is not near.  And not only that but the presence of the Lord brings rest, brings peace, brings comfort, brings joy that can be find no where else.  What an incredible promise to know that because of the cross, because of Jesus we have the sweet hope of always having the God of the universe near to our wavering hearts.

Somedays I really wonder what God is up to.  There is so much hard around me right now, so much brokenness and several situations where I really just don't understand.  But I go back to knowing and believing that we serve a God who is above all, knows all, and really is in control.  And so when we don't know what else to do, where to turn, or how to take the next step we have a Heavenly Father who is standing with open arms ready to welcome and fight for his children.

So in 2016 with whatever may come my way, in the good and the hard,  I want to live in the presence of God.  I want to sit at his feet, and cling to his cross.  I want to believe that He is enough for me.  I want to be ok with not always understanding, not having the answers, and not knowing the future. Because the God of the Bible never left his people and he will never leave me.  What an incredible peace to know that we have a Heavenly Father who has made that promise to us.

Heres to a new a year, new adventures, new joys and new sorrows.  But here's also a God who stays the same and has promised to be there through it all guiding me, leading me, and reminding me that He is all that I need!

"My presence will go with you and I will give you rest"

Exodus 33:14