Do you ever wonder what God looks like? Is he really a figure, or is he just an image? Man or woman or both? Nature?
I like to believe that God is whoever God wants to be at the time of need for each individual person. A kind old lady on the bus, a handsome man in the store, or the person begging on the street corner. God is all around us: the trees, the snow, the dew drops, the soaring eagles, and God is even inside of us.
I guess I bring this up because I am reading The Shack by William P. Young (where God is a big, loving black woman) and also because it is a certain time of the year. The holidays seem to either bring out the worst in people or the best. People also seem to get more depressed and melancholy; and God is the easy target to blame for everything wrong. Where is God in all this suffering? Where is God in wartime? We all lean toward a hope for a free ride, a life with no pain and suffering. It’s hard when we realize that’s impossible.
No one is exempt from pain and suffering, believers in God or not. However, God is waiting as a refuge for those who are willing to “come into his arms.” It’s easier to get through things when we can place our faith and trust in Him and know that we are not in control…..we never were and never will be. By giving it all to him, we can focus our energy on improving our situation and moving on. So, to me God is whatever God feels will help me in my situation/circumstance. Sometimes I feel him shaking his head at how hard I am making things. Why am I hiking the rugged path, over the mountain; when He has already paved a path straight through it? The best thing about that path is, He is my walking stick along the way.
I am pretty independent, which can sometimes get me in a mess. I feel that I know the right way and I am too stubborn to realize I am running in circles……I sometimes like to chase my own tail. Giving it all to God always seems to get me a lot further, trusting him is the key to every decision in my life.
We have all asked or heard the infamous question: “Where is God when there is great suffering, when the innocent die?” I guess the answer to me is, “Where isn’t he?” God doesn’t create the mess of the world but he is there to encourage us to clean it up. He hurts for us and catches every teardrop. His love is never ending, his prize for us amazing…..it’s up to us to open our eyes. Let the chaos settle and zone in on the One truth, the One hope.
The time is nearing for my teammates and I to leave this country for 11 months….to go to the nations. We have answered the call to show love and grace where it is needed. What does it feel like to have never been loved? Or to never know that there is hope in the darkness? We are about to discover a lot about ourselves and about God’s love…..it’s time to reach the unreached. It’s time for us to share our light and to ignite the nations, to quell the darkness. Many have asked me why I would want to do this, what would “possess” me? I guess the Spirit possesses me. I feel that God is sending me on the path He has chosen for me, and I am trusting Him with that. I am answering and reaching out for His hand to guide me.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-15
