Everywhere God

This morning I woke up early as we were just driving into New Mexico. Now I don't know if you've ever been to New Mexico, but it's a type of beauty like I've never seen. Vast desert, unusual rock formations, and scattered mountains paint a picture that I had only before seen in movies or on the Discovery Channel, and as I beheld such a landscape this morning, the Holy Spirit moved my heart to worship. How could I not be moved? Look around. Creation is shouting of His glory, of His beauty, of His artistry, of His great love. God, in His sovereignty, could have easily left out the details that we so often take for granted, and we never would have known the difference. But instead, out of His goodness and divinity, he painted for us beauty at every turn. Sunrise and sunset, dawn and dusk, mountains and valleys, oceans and rivers and waterfalls and rainbows and stars. And these are but the outer fringe of His wonders. Don't even get me started about finding Beauty (God Himself) in the people He loves so much, no matter what age, no matter what background, no matter what color, race, or profession. I think of the children in India and Guatemala that I have grown to love so much during my brief visits into their world. Rejected by society and even by their parents, yet ever loved by God and set ablaze in this dark place to shine of the hope they have found in their Jesus. He is in it all...their laughs, their tears, their play, their pain, their hunger, their joy. He is there, in their midst. We worship a God who is everywhere, in everything.

And He is there with you, right where you sit. The Lord your God is with you. But not only is He present, He is active. Whether or not you believe it or feel it, God is not standing idly by, twiddling His thumbs. He is on the move. His Spirit is always at work in and around us. This truth is a great source of comfort, for even when our eyes cannot see the steady hand of the Lord constantly stirring and drawing and embracing, He is working still. We can rest in that. We can stake our lives on the fact that God is faithful in the most turbulent and gut wrenching of circumstances. I'm not quite sure why I'm writing this when I had all intentions of exploring God in everything (Colossians 1), but obviously He is working even now in this blog. So friend, wherever you are (physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually), the Living God is in your midst. Calling. Loving. Searching. Correcting. Drawing. Healing. You. And me. Praise the Lord that He would be willing to look at me in all my filth and lift me from ashes to beauty. And He wants to do the same thing for you. All you have to do is let Him. Redemption is sure, and there's nothing His mercy He can't cover. My prayer is that you would allow this everywhere God come near to your heart and be everything to you.