God is drawing us near
I thought I would take a few minutes this morning before heading out of town for Thanksgiving this coming week to catch up with you all! The house is quiet for the moment and all I hear is the rushing of the water in the washing machine. Now, most importantly, I must quiet my heart once again.The Lord has been doing so much in me from so many different angles. Do you ever feel a stirring in your spirit but you’re not exactly sure how to put your finger on it? That’s how I feel right now. God has been showing me Himself in so many little ways, but the overall message that I’m getting is “I want to you to be near Me.” In the Tabernacle study I’m doing (Beth Moore), it’s all about the incredible fact that everything God did from the beginning of “time,” as we know it, was to be near us! From the Garden, as He walked among the trees in the cool of the day, to His command for the Israelites to create a Tabernacle that He might dwell there and meet with them. And, of course, to JESUS - the ultimate demonstration of His desire to be close to us once again, to not be separated by this ugly thing called “sin.” Now, this might sound simplistic and you might be thinking…”well, that’s nothing new, Shannon! Duh!” But, even though I have served Him my whole life. it is as if He is revealing this to me in a new way. I can hardly explain it, but I feel a deeper sense of His love toward me than I ever have and it’s SO GOOD!
Because I am sensing Him drawing me nearer and nearer, I am also hearing Him say…”draw near me…and be like me.” In other words, “I am calling you to a deeper level of holiness and fruitfulness in your life.” Things that might have seemed OK in the past, or seem OK to other believers may not be OK - certain TV shows, certain ways of joking, certain attitudes…the list could go on. And I’m not meaning this in a legalistic, stuck-in-the-mud way, but I feel the Lord saying to His Bride…”Prepare yourself…allow me to prune away those things that aren’t pleasing to me…because I love you and I want to be near you. Be holy as I am holy.”
I feel like I’m not expressing this well, because I’m still processing so much of it. But one thing I do know is that God is drawing me and drawing you near. He longs to be near His children, to reveal the secrets of His heart to us. He longs for us to delight ourselves in Him, to worship at His feet, to choose the “one thing” that will satisfy. There is no substitute. Oh…I may try to substitute this joy with other things like chocolate (I try that one way too much), shopping, friends, family, money…but nothing will EVER satisfy except Jesus. And He waits for us…He calls to us…He longs to be written upon every page of our story, for us to awaken with Him, interact with Him all day long, and to close our eyes at night breathing our last words of the day to Him.
In closing, I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving week next week. I know, all too well, that the Holidays can be a painful time for many of you for so many different reasons. For me, the pain of infertility stung every time a holiday rolled around. At times, the pain of my parents divorcing STILL rolls around. And for those of you who have lost loved ones or have estranged relationships, these days can be difficult. But they are also an opportunity. An opportunity to draw near the spout of Living Water and let Him pour Himself into you and fill you - every nook and cranny of your life and heart. I believe that in our pain and suffering, Christ has the greatest opportunity to show us all that He is. So, with thanksgiving let us face this week, this month, this year, this life….because He will supply ALL that we need according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Love you all!
- Shannon Wexelberg
