How do I connect with God?
Your faith journey begins when you connect with God in a real and meaningful way. Many people know a lot about God, but they fail to truly know Him. You and I long for an experience with God. As normal people, it's one thing to be aware of God's love, but until we truly experience that love, we'll never really understand it. Trust me, I've been there.
Connecting with God is about experiencing his love.
My wife and I have been building a family. The pregnancy with our third daughter has been rough. Nicole has been on bed rest since about week 20 and after multiple trips to the doctor, we still cling tightly to worry.
This has caused a lot of changes quite quickly in our family. Routines are different, responsibilities are different, income is different, personalities are different, and our interaction with others is different. Yet, God is the same.
We started a group on Facebook called “Praying for Baby Shultz” to keep people posted about updates and to allow people to post prayers. In the first 24 hours about 150 people joined. It was astonishing.
We also started the prayer chain in our denomination. People were literally praying around the world for this little child. Pretty cool.
An major life event like this can cause a person to go two directions: closer to God, closer to themselves. Nicole and I are drawing closer to God.
It's easy to say, but why?
With the way the faith community has surrounded us in prayer and offered assistance anywhere from doing laundry, mowing the lawn, bringing meals, to setting up and paying for a baby-sitting schedule, we can’t help but watch God do his thing through the church.
Personally, I’m connecting with God in a deeper way right now. I feel completely helpless, but that's okay. I’m watching God do his thing. I’m sensing him at work all around me. I’m seeing things happen that wouldn’t normally happen if I was in control. I’m seeing things accomplished that I would have considered impossible. I’m seeing my worries and anxieties about details relieved by the assurance that God sends by making those details work out. I’m watching my wife and I not stress out about an ugly situation (losing a 4th child to miscarriage) but actually laugh together in the midst of it.
When we go through hard times, difficult situations, it’s an opportunity to connect with God, to experience his presence: active and real. We’ve done that.
The challenge is to ride this spiritual lift and not return to where we were in our spiritual journey before this ugly set of events found its way into our family’s life. We may be successful with this, and we may not. Nobody's got it all together--even the Pastor or his wife.
Connecting with God is all about the awareness of God’s presence in our life, his persistent badgering with love, mercy and grace. Nicole and I have found joy in a dark situation. We have found peace during trial. We have found hope amidst desperation. All because we have stayed connected with God and allowed him to reveal himself to us in mightier ways than we have seen him in the past.
My challenge for you is to look for God all the time. Don’t wait for the awful times. Those will come and require other strength and connectivity. Do it now. Where is God? How is he showing up in your life right now? Are you looking for Him? Are you aware of Him?
God is never not there. Sometimes we just fail to make the connection.
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To read more about connecting with God, check out Pastor Sam's weekly blog for other entries pertaining to connecting with God.
