[From our March Newsletter]

I posted my theme for the year – Listen — around my house.  So I’m on the watch for what God wants to teach me, and He seems to be drawing me to His Spirit.  I know He lives in me, and I’ve had an ongoing conversation with Him for years.  I ask for guidance, He guides. I ask for comfort, He comforts.  But I’m learning He is more than merely a candy machine, dispensing money or answers or happiness when I input some prayers.  He is Holy.  The Almighty God of the universe lives in us.  Sometimes I have forgotten what a big deal this actually is.  Let me also say that my education in the Spirit has been very humbling.  I’ve learned to reverence Him so much more – a powerful God who is not a toy to be played with.

God has always been there for me over the years, as a counselor Who I can trust, Who handles my emotions, and Who heals my soul.  But my relationship with Him as a person was rather emotion-less.  These past few months I’ve been on a journey to fall more in love with God.  I’ve gained this ridiculous longing for Heaven I’ve never had before.  Sure, I knew Heaven was perfect.  It was going to be fun.  But now, I see it differently.  God is there.  And I want to be with Him so much.  This world is so broken, but Heaven is whole.  God is there — that’s why it’s whole.  So I do feel I’m falling more in love with the Lord.  I am so grateful for all He’s done in my heart my entire life, and especially in this new year.  I hope to fall more in love with Him not just the rest of this year but all the years of my life.

P.S.  Some of what I’m learning I read in Francis Chan’s Forgotten God.