Can You Believe It?

Since I do believe God exists and is continually present with us in this world, I walked outside unto my deck early one morning and decide I wanted to experience the healing presence of God right then and there. I wanted God to strengthen my faith in Him by speaking to me right then and there, and throughout the rest of the day.

I was looking for God to continue to heal the spiritual wounds and scars left in my heart that were inflicted by my sins and the sins of others. I was looking for God to heal and purify my heart, so I would be able to love Him and others as a spiritual child of God.

I was looking to God with faith to free me from the lies, and the subsequent fears, that God's love for me is not unconditional. I was looking to be freed from doubting that God can be trusted to meet all my physical and spiritual needs and to be freed from the fear that my sins could separate me from the daily and eternal blessings of God.

I was looking for God to speak to me and thereby equip me to live in the light, even as Jesus lived in the light. I was looking for God to show me and tell me what I could do and say to love others and help usher in the spiritual Kingdom of God through my life. So, I waited. I just waited on God.

It was early morning and as I was waiting on God, my mind was soon drawn to the darkness that surrounded me. The thought occurred to me how fortunate we are to live in a world with light.

I imagined all the ways life would be diminished if we had to live in a world without light. Sure, it is something everyone takes for granted, but it is a huge blessing for everyone and everything living on this planet. To live a life in darkness would be a life filled with continual uncertainty and fear. I thought, how fortunate we are to find ourselves on a planet with light!

As the light increased around me, I felt the growing warmth of the sun on my face and it gave me a sense of comfort and peace that all was right in my world. Again, a thought occurred to me how fortunate we are to have the warmth that comes from the sun. Our bodies are designed to sustain life only within a small range of temperatures. Without that warmth, we would all die. How fortunate we are to find ourselves on a planet that sustains a temperature that supports life!

As I enjoyed the experience of the growing beauty of the morning in that light and the warmth of the sun, I became conscious of my breathing. I took a deep breath and again a thought occurred to me that without that oxygen we could not even live! Again, how fortunate we are to find ourselves on a planet that produces oxygen needed for us to even live! And likewise, how even more incredible that we have a body with lungs that are designed to process that air needed for us to live!

At this point, I noticed the trees and bushes that were around me and another thought came to me. We even have trees and bushes that filter out the poisonous carbon monoxide we exhale and produce more oxygen to sustain our life! Again, the thought, how fortunate!

I then thought to wonder, "Why?" The scientific answer is that we have the light and warmth necessary to support life on this planet because of the sun. That answer is not, however, why, but how? Science discovers answers about how things work but not why?

The answer of Christian faith to why is God! 'I believe in God, the Father, Almighty. The maker of heaven and earth.' God created everything that exists, and we are designed as the crowning focus of His creation. God created us and designed us with needs that must be met for us to live. God likewise accordingly created and sustains everything needed to meet our physical and spiritual needs for life. The truth about God and His love for us is all around us!

In each passing moment, as these thoughts kept coming to my mind, the sense of the presence of God, and the experience of His love for me kept growing.

The thought occurred to me, God did not create this world like a wind-up clock that He left here, and that just keeps running while He went away somewhere else. I was experiencing the active presence of God and His love for me in the revealing light that surrounded me, in the warmth of the air, and with every life-giving breath, I took. God and His love are not just concepts, He is a living presence and His love for us is a truth we do experience daily, though often unaware. The spiritual energy that fuels every function in creation is God himself.

On hundreds of occasions like that morning on my deck, while looking to God to heal my spiritual brokenness, to free me from my spiritual blindness, and speak to me about life, I have experienced the reality of the presence of our loving God.