For my friends coming back to Christ…
This is personal for you but you are not alone. This is quiet for you but you are not in hiding. This is a decision of the heart filled with emotion and feelings… a strange mixture of joy and regret… hurt and happiness… discontent and peace. This is a personal decision but not private because there is a difference being made inside that finds its way outside.
You are not alone. Many of your friends sitting all around you Sunday are joining you in this step, a renewed start.
You are not alone. Maybe your life is under a heavy blanket of fog. A fog of hurt or a fog of a heavy heart making it difficult to see down the road. This fog makes you struggle to see any signs of life around. Your eyes strain to see where you might need to turn next. But… you are not alone. There are many of us in that same fog we just can’t seem to see each other.
You are not alone. Your heart knows He must be there too even if you can’t seem to see Him. That feeling… it is actually placed in your life by God Himself. He placed within you a desire to discover your purpose and seek something pure. Paul describes why God did this:
Acts 17:27-28 (NIV)
27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
In life we must eventually learn a difficult lesson. We have to learn to trust when it is difficult to trust. We need to learn to rely on Him when everything we usually rely upon is screaming, “No… I’m here right now… rely on me… I will ease your mind… I will help you forget… I will make your pain less…I’m here for you… you can see me, hold me, touch me, have me now.”
You are taking that tough step of trust that says, “I’m choosing to trust you Jesus… even though I may have trouble seeing you in me and around me right now. I’m choosing to rely upon you even though the fog is thick. I’m turning to you this moment instead of turning to what I have been turning toward.” A key word is “moment” because this is not a one time response. That choice to become a Christ-follower is a one time for all time choice but the choice to rely upon Him, is different. This is a moment by moment response. This moment, right now, I am leaning on You instead of what I have been leaning.
We are learning to trust on Him, even when we struggle to feel Him. That is important because it is simple to trust when you see God doing big things in you. It is easy to trust when the miracle happens. It is easy to trust when things are good. It is a whole new, deeper meaning, to trust when you are having trouble seeing. Suddenly, now you are discovering the meaning of faith. Relying on, trusting when the evidence has faded into the fog. And when you do this… God smiles… God reaches… God calls you friend.
Very possibly this is where your heart begins to feel His presence again. He never left. He has been there. We were simply relying on something else, someone else or maybe even just relying on ourselves. But now… you are starting to hear that quiet voice drawing you toward Him and you breathe a deep sigh saying, “I’m not alone.”
One of my favorite verses speaks of this.
Psalm 27:8 (NLT)
8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.”
Your heart is beginning to hear once again. Respond moment by moment. Run to Him and yell out, “LORD, I am coming!”
Today, moment by moment, pause and simply rest in, rely upon, trust in Him.
“Lord, you are here. I am here. I’m relying on you right now.”
One last thought. Don’t let this be private. Invite a friend to sit beside you Sunday. Help them find Jesus in their fog too.
I will see you Sunday my friend.
Harley
One of your pastors. One of your friends.
