God in My Life

I think my children know how important God is in my life. I’m constantly filled with the desire to get close to Him and know Him better. When the incessant sound of the TV permeates our family room or music is playing loudly with the beats of the latest songs, I steal away into my private hideaway, the office upstairs, where I can be away from the “maddening crowd.” It’s there that I can commune with God as I read His Word and quietly contemplate and pray. Tacked up all over my desk and shelves above it are meaningful quotes or sayings that serve as constant reminders of what God’s will is for me, so when my own desires direct me otherwise, I can refocus. Most of the books lining the book shelves are religious in nature. To help engrain God’s Word in my heart and mind, I have gotten into the habit of collecting my personal thoughts and writing them down. Sometimes it comes in verse form; other times, it’s personal reflections in prose. Sometimes it’s an attempt to internalize God’s Word for better understanding. Oftentimes, they are memorial stones of remembrance;1 I don’t ever want to forget about God’s providence and faithfulness in my life. Loving God, praising and thanking Him, and serving Him is my main interest in life. Naturally, when problems arise in the lives of my children, I will often suggest that they talk to God or pray about it. Being so preoccupied with daily activities of being kids, they find little time to include God. Sometimes when I confront them, they will say, “Well, I do love God.” To that I respond, “If you really love God, then you will put Him first in your life above everything else.” Then I stress, “That means giving God some of your valuable time: reading about Him, talking with Him, and praying to Him.” Unfortunately, I can see that with so many other things vying for their attention, God continues to take a back seat. One time when I made a suggestion to my son to pray about a particular problem, he blurted out skeptically, “Why? I haven’t seen anything that God has done for me!” It struck me that my son was challenging, “Prove to me that God exists!” He would not be able to touch the nail holes in the hands and feet of Jesus, but it caused me to consider something. Could I somehow convey the reality of a living God via my own personal encounters with Him? Over the years in my own life, there had been so many times that I had felt God’s Holy Spirit speaking to me either through scripture, prayer, circumstances, or other Christians. Because of their perfect timing and frequency, I could no longer call these “coincidences.” Out of an intimate relationship with God, I had come to recognize His voice. I knew in my heart, with certainty, that these were “God-incidents.” If I organized and compiled these personal experiences and life lessons, would my children be able to see that God is always at work around us? I knew these seemingly ordinary occurrences were truly extraordinary if one had the eyes to see. Was it a “coincidence” that the same day I wrote this was the very day I just happened to read Deuteronomy 4:9 in my Bible: “But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you have seen God doing for you. May His miracles have a deep and permanent effect upon your lives! Tell your children and your grandchildren about the glorious miracles he did.” 2 I knew that God was, once again, reaffirming His truth to me through His Word - personally, poignantly, and perfectly timed. Originally, the reason I started keeping a record of God working in my life was for my own benefit – I never wanted to forget! I was like David who said: “I shall remember the deeds of the Lord.” 3 But now, it is my greatest desire to give testimony of God’s faithfulness and “glorious miracles” through my daily experiences with Him, not only to my family, but everyone. My hope is that every person will come to know the beauty of life built on a solid foundation of knowing there is a God who loves each one of us so much He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to tell us, and then he died in our place so we would not be separated from God for all eternity. All my writings are dedicated to that end – to share what God has done for me, and to demonstrate His great love, His strength and His wondrous works. I do want to be a faithful steward and follow God’s leading to not forget, and to “write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so that people not yet born will praise him.”4

Heavenly Father, my earnest prayer is that all people living now, and in future generations, will come to love and glorify You and Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.