Thailand is filled with Buddhism. Temples can be found throughout the city, offering booths are found in front of most bars, and the smell of incense fills the streets. In Thailand it is said, “To be Thai is to be Buddhist.” Friday, we visited a Buddhist University/Temple in the middle of the city. Libby asked a young monk, “When you pray does Buddha talk back to you?” The monk chuckled at us and said no. His morning meditations consist of reciting chants from a book. He never “prays” with his own words or hears a response. It made me feel sad for him. He doesn’t have a friendship with God that involves ongoing conversation, reassurance, and comforting. He doesn’t get to feel the presence of God as he walks down the street in the same way I do. He doesn’t get goose-bumps all over his body when the Lord moves and works around him. It’s just not the same.
This is when I realized how grateful I am that I serve a living God. I serve a God who continuously speaks to me, walks with me, reassure me, comforts me, and surrounds me. Christianity is built on a relationship with God! A relationship that goes both ways. A relationship that is ever growing and changing and going deeper. Think about friendships in your life. In the same way that you spend time with your friends and converse with them, God wants to do the same with you.
God has been speaking to me a lot this month. Now you ask, HOW? He is the small voice inside my head. We spend time in prayer each morning and I ask God, “What do you have for Thailand? What do you have for the bar street? What do you want me to pray for the people around me?” He answers by bringing thoughts to my mind. He gives me bible verses (which I look up). He gives me pictures or ideas. He gives me a desire to lift people up in prayer, sometimes with specific things that I didn’t know about. It is one of the coolest things I’ve experienced. So many times this month I am blown away by my bible. Hear me, I have NEVER read my entire bible. I don’t know all the stories or where exactly to find passages I’m looking for, and yet God speaks to me through the bible. A scripture will pop into my head and I look it up. Many times it is relevant to what I was thinking about or a reassuring word. It is so cool!
I am grateful that I serve a God who speaks to me daily. I am grateful for the friendship I have with God and I look forward to exploring it as I continue on my race. I encourage you to explore the presence of God in your own life.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” –James 4:8
