Becoming a Follower

And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

For years now I’ve been starving for everything God related. I wanted to read every book, go to every bible study, and attend every fellowship group. I’d developed a hunger that seemed difficult to satisfy. Oh, how many days I dreamed about taking a reading vacation? I know it doesn’t sound very sexy but the thought of a getaway, with no responsibilities awaiting me except for a pile for books seemed like a dream to me.

But while I was craving God and I was acquiring a lot of information about him, something was missing. Something big!

I’d heard how important it was to have a relationship with God and I thought I did pretty good in that area. But one day I was asking God for more, “Lord, I want to be closer to you. I want to hear from you!” I heard the Lord say, “I would love to talk to you but what time works for you because you are always so busy.” Yikes! That was huge for me. I had no idea what a relationship with God was all about.

I made space to study and learn ABOUT God but I failed to talk WITH God. Truth be told, as I received this revelation, I agreed but I had no clue on how to change the situation. What does it mean to have a relationship WITH God?

I love to talk. I’ve always had a solid group of friends with whom, I can share my problems and victories but how do you do that with someone you can’t see. So I took to scripture. I Googled “How did Jesus spend time with God – scripture” Seriously! Who better to show the way? To my surprise, there were so many examples in scripture of Jesus isolating himself from others in order to spend time with God. I pictured him always surrounded by people. How did I miss this? Wow! This is what I was missing.

I was excited and immediately decided to set aside one hour every morning. We have four girls at home and it can get noisy, so 5:00 am it was. I committed to sitting in my bean bag chair from which I would not move for an entire hour. I decided no books, no electronics, no distractions. Apart from that, no rules. I can talk to God, listen to him, sing him a song. Whatever I feel led to do. The first few days were laughable. It probably took me a good 45 minutes to quiet my mind enough to even acknowledge God. I was thinking about my plans for the day, what I would cook for dinner, everything but God. It’s funny how the mind works; how it fights to turn away from God.

But I kept coming back to that little bean bag every day and little by little, it started to work. In that hour each day, God really started to speak to me and show me things. I’ve mostly been praying for understanding and deliverance but oh how he has answered those prayers.

To have a personal and divine teacher, the creator of the universe, teaching you about life?? I can’t tell you how special and loved that makes me feel. I’m getting to know his personality. He’s funny. He’s caring. He’s patient.

My friends, this is an awesome journey. I pray that each of you experiences it for yourselves. I pray that my fire for knowing him never dies out. I now understand what is meant by, “He rewards those that diligently seek him.”