The Email That Started It All

Recently I was responding from my heart to someone I have known for years about a difficult time they are going through, with no forethought of any other purpose than to hope to provide some encouragement and comfort. As a result of my writing the following email, my thoughts continued to formulate the idea for this blog and moreso, it began an inner purpose not to put it off any longer. 

 "I know a lot of stories of many people that went through very hard times, and who questioned even the existence of God because of those hard times! And rightly so! I know from personal experience, that hard times for one person may not be hard times for someone else, but we each have our own breaking point, and I would almost guarantee that it is not until we go through those kind of times..... even to where our faith falters.... even to where we have convinced ourselves that either God does not exist, or that at least if He does then we are not interested to know Him!

 I am convinced that it is having been in that place to where in our soul, we were so shaken that there would be nothing left to hang on to....... that it is in that place, where God will fill us with Himself! It seems to me that it is the very ones who have the strongest faith in the toughest times, are the same ones who have already been through something much tougher, and have gotten to know God on a personal level because of the experiences they had during those tough times! 

 And isn't that the key? It is not enough to know about God or just to believe that He exists, how deep is that faith? But rather to KNOW Him! And how does one tell if they know Him, other than God reveals Himself. It is as easy and as complicated as that! There are no steps to follow, no prayers to pray, no deals to be made, no arm twisting, and empty promises. There are no two ways the same. You can't repeat the same path I was taken (or anyone else) to get the same result. But what I can tell you without hesitation is that there is MORE!

 There is more of Him to be had, more for Him to reveal, and the more that He reveals, the more insignificant any other troubles seem because you just know that He is SO much BIGGER than that. How is that possible? Well, I think it has a lot to do with our expectations.

 I remembered a saying from a while back, that went like this: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, we are spiritual beings on a human journey!! There is a big difference between the two. To me, that puts a lot of things into perspective. Romans says "For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are ALL things." Since we came from Him, and we are going back to Him anyway, then what is the purpose of THIS human life?? And isn't that the question that needs to be answered? Isn't it possible that the purpose God has in store for us in our existence with Him, can only be developed because of our experiences on this human journey?

 Paul says "that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us!" And yet we compare the sufferings now to... we do not know what! We don't know yet the glory that shall be revealed in us, so we do not have that experience to compare it to.... and yet, every so often there is a moment in time where He seems to draw back the curtain within, and reveals part of Himself from within, to where it is almost beyond our ability to contain ourselves. And then the curtain is closed, and it is as if it were a dream, and another phase of the human journey continues, and yet, we can draw strength from that moment of intimacy with Him, and we can trust Him even more than we did before, and we can even come to that place where we will say with Job, "even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" And we say that, not in our own strength, but in His strength that operates within us.

 That part where our spirit is strengthened, and our carnal man is being overcome. And some days I am not interested in overcoming my carnal man, I just want to be trouble free! And once not long ago, the Lord reminded me of a choice.... though I wonder how much choice He intended knowing what my heart would choose anyway..... What if you could live a reasonably trouble free life. No great heartaches, but also no great heights. Perhaps you would never really know hunger, or pain, or disaster, but you would also not know the deep joys of life either. Not a lot of struggle, and not a lot of success. OR... You could have more of HIM! And the result of every experience He would purpose for your life, would reveal more of Him! Every pain would end in knowing more of Him. Every heartache would result in knowing more of Him. Not that these things would be without purpose, for every detail of our life is carefully orchestrated in unfathomable love towards us, for the glory that shall be revealed in us.

 The cry of my heart was More of Him! And it is really the cry of your heart too!"