As I stood in front of the youth group at New Life Fellowship in Cambodia, I looked at a room full of Cambodian high school students. As I shared, I started to see why God put me there, at that moment, to share my life with them. It was a big youth group similar to the one that God used to catch my attention and draw me close to Him when I was in high school. As I shared about my life, how God used people in my life to teach me about Him and show me how to have a relationship with Him…a few verses from Psalm 139 were echoing in my mind:
For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
As I continued to share, God kept reminding me that He has known me all along. He knew me before I was born, He knew me when I was in my mother’s womb, He knew me when I was learning how to walk, He knew me during every stage of my life. He was there. He was there when I slept as a baby, He was there when I cried over my parents divorce, He was there when I sat with my mom in the hospital. He was there on my first date, He was there when I learned how to drive, He was there when I made so many mistakes. He was there all those times I wondered if He even existed. He was there…He is here…and He is allowing me to get to know Him. These thoughts were racing through my mind as I was sharing with the youth group about how God shook up my life and drew me close to Him. As I came to an end, I expressed to the high school students how much God loves them and I said, “He already knows you, better than anyone in your life ever will…and it is the biggest blessing the the world to get to know Him.” After I sat down, that sentence really hit me. That was not my thought, that was God. He was teaching me in that moment, that I am on an amazing journey, getting to know Him. What an incredible blessing it is to know God. Not just know things about Him, read about Him, or study the history of Jesus….but to really know Him personally. He knows me better than anyone ever will, and He fulfills me more than anyone ever can. I want everyone to know Him, because I know He can satisfy the needs of all His children. He knows each of His children, and so many don’t even know He is there. I don’t know why He is so good, and I don’t understand His grace….but it brings me to my knees because His love is so great that my human mind cannot comprehend it. In this lifetime, I will spend it getting to know Him….and His love never gets old, never runs out, and never lets me down. Thank you Lord, I love you too.
