We met on an assembly job that builds seat belts sometime around 1992. Immediately I took a liking to her. She was nice- I mean genuinely kind, good, treated people with respect, yet still managed to joke around and bring smiles to people’s faces. She had good work ethics, doing her job without complaint and working hard. As I got to know her, I found her to be open and honest about her beliefs, feelings and thoughts. We hit it off immediately and have been best friends since that time.
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| Other best friends |
There isn’t anything she doesn’t know about me. The funny thing is- she still loves me. As I go through my life it is reassuring to know there is another human out there who loves me unconditionally. She’s seen me at my best and my worst, and I know if I called her and said I needed her, she would come. This friendship developed more deeply over years of phone communication and time spent together during work (for a few years) and after work. We really got to know each other, and I am so blessed to have this magnificent friend as part of my life.
Thinking back, I have to acknowledge that it wasn’t the same with God and me. To start with, I had been brought up to believe He was more of an offsite kind of impersonal God who only steps in for the big things and was ready to whip people when they did wrong. Perhaps that’s why when I became saved I immediately related to Jesus, but not to the Father. That’s a bit of a problem since they are both God. And it took a while to understand the Spirit was part of God too. Our relationship took time to develop, longer than it should have due to many backslidden times when I ignored our connection.
Over the years I have learned that God is personal and wants to be involved in our lives daily. He won’t strong arm us into that kind of relationship, but it’s what He always wanted- after all, He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:8). Those times I pushed Him away, He encouraged me to come back and patiently waited for me. When I came back, He didn’t treat me as a stranger, but we started off where I left, and slowly I got to know Him better by reading His Word, prayer, and getting in His presence quietly listening. That was how I learned to know His voice (Jh. 10:27 ).
Now it feels like I am hundreds of miles past when I first knew the Lord, yet ahead of me I see many hundreds more. Still, I’m feeling pretty great about our relationship because I understand Him so much better, and even though there’s so much more to understand, He patiently works with me step by step as I draw nearer to Him. And it will never cease to amaze me that God, the creator of the universe, wants to spend time with little ol’ me! (Thank You so much Lord!!!) As my bestest of all friends, He will never fail me (Dt. 31:8).
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you… Jm. 4:8
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Is. 55:6
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you… Jer. 29:13,14
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. Ps. 27:8
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Ps. 42:1,2
…O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Ps. 63:1,2