Draw near

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

You can’t get to know God from a distance. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Something inside me the past two years has yearned to draw nearer to Him, to know Him better, to allow Him to reveal more truth to me. I receive this desire as a reward for taking time to seek Him. I’m grateful to the tools He used to draw me to Him:

1.       The Lord’s Table

2.       Anne Streeter’s Inductive Bible Study on Colossians

3.       Daniel Fast during Lent 2011

My struggle lately has been learning to love my husband more and more. I desperately want to be that couple married 50+ years claiming they love each other now more than the day they wed. And then while being taught James 4:8 yesterday, I realized that while Christ is my first and last bridegroom, Derrick is my bridegroom here in human flesh. Am I drawing nearer to him? My mentor told me, “Look at Derrick like when you first fell in love.” I have wrestled with what that looks like for three days and then in this teaching, God reveals it to me. I have to draw near to Derrick to really know him. I have to sacrifice getting more done in my day, having the dishes all put away, doing what I want to do in the evening, on the weekend. And even last night as I prayed with him before drifting off to sleep, I felt like I knew him and saw him in that first love’s light. Once more, God’s amazing blessing after obedience.

4.       Sunlight pouring through puffy thunderheads

5.       Respect being learned

6.       Zodiates

7.       Black stamens inside the tulip that stand in contrast to the light petals

8.       Ribbon

9.       Snow in July

10.   Warm spring evening drive alone

11.   Music that lifts spirits and pierces heart

12.   Allrecipes app

13.   Maps

14.   Jewelry

15.   Last of the trees finally budding out

16.   Getting to know women better

17.   Spring bling catching the sunlight and reflecting all over kitchen walls

18.   Calculated one’s repentant heart

19.   Look in the engineer’s eyes that says how much he loves me

20.   Finding the Bluetooth

21.   Joyous anticipation of a weekend at a cabin

22.   Mother-in-law that radiates peace, calm and servanthood

23.   Caringbridge website

24.   Doorbell ringing

25.   Verbal affirmation from the engineer

26.   Trimming the Maple “bushes” into trees

27.   Garden all tilled

28.   Long dark eyelashes

29.   Crockpots

30.   Roadtrips

31.   Nectar so that bees make honey

32.   Alarm clocks not set

33.   Lilacs beautiful green and aromatic flowers

34.   Walmart

35.   Missing my older sister…it means we have relationship

36.   Planting time

37.   Pencil, paper and planning

38.   Singing while playing piano

39.   Montana pumpkin seeds in Minnesota soil

40.   Order and organization

41.   Sleepy bed eyes that find mom to snuggle

42.   Sleeping in “sister’s” room

43.   The engineer hogging the bed

44.   Smell of ham in the oven

45.   Bright green crinkle in spinach leaves

46.   Unique shape of seeds

47.   Catching rainwater in buckets

48.   Fertilizer

49.   Preen

50.   2-4-D

51.   Joy that bright yellow dandelions bring little girls

52.   Lumber yard in town

53.   Milk  and orange juice in a bag

54.   Punch card for milk club

55.   Sisters playing school

56.   Beating the rain

57.   “Tomorrow” sung somewhat in unison by three golden heads

58.   Potlucks

59.   New recipes

60.   Endless variety of fabric...choices

61.   Leftovers for lunch

62.   Song of rain on windows

63.   Shelves

64.   Overhearing imaginative play

65.   Dirty blonde hair

66.   Dress jammies

67.   Sun freckles

68.   Lori

69.   Balance

70.   Cowlicks

71.   The engineer’s first soufflé

72.   “I’ll lick your cookie for you.”

73.   Sleeping in forts

74.   Sleepbags and pillows for padding against a concrete floor

75.   Nightlights

76.   Bedtime prayers in the fort

77.   Panentheism – Colossians 1:15-17

78.   Playing Hearts in the fort

79.   Allrecipes app

80.   Golden heads not fighting

81.   Naps that revive a spirit

82.   Emergen-C

83.   Garage organized

84.   The peacefulness felt by the engineer after the organization

85.   Mirrors that give more to see

86.   Straight orderly arch of irrigation system

87.   Alianese

88.   “Mom, you are gorgeous.”

89.   Moving the dining room chair closer to sister

90.   Nascar

91.   The engineer picking – it makes him him

92.   Blueberries

93.   Burps (or something worse) followed by “excuse me”

94.   Graceful flight of birds

95.   Pointy leaves of a maple

96.   Mystical haze in the morning air

97.   Silhouette of a small evergreen, zigzags from point to base

98.   Ical

99.   Squint of eyes that protect from sun, bugs & small flying dust particles

100.    Ingenious Creator

101.    Basil in a pot

102.    New mercies every morning

103.    Google

104.    Eagerness of the girls to spend time with mom and dad

105.    The engineer’s hand on me at daybreak, inviting me to snuggle closer

106.    Destination Dairy Queen bike ride

107.    Eight yellow turning black goslings swim and waddle between parents