Closer than You Think

Something's going on.

Oh please, may this be reality.

May God always be so close.

So evident.

I know that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.

That the Spirit of God is like the wind.

The whole point is that we know Him well enough that when we cannot see Him... we recognize His presence. We can feel His nearness.

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But He's showing His face right now. Bending low, He's reached for my hand.

I see Him everywhere I go.

I've considered tape recording my prayer time in the morning as I drive to work - just so I have proof of the way He's answered my prayers.

In ways far beyond what I could have asked or imagined.

He's getting creative on me.

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I feel Him pull away every once in a while, reminding me that I don't know what He's up to all the time.

"Don't even pretend like you understand that, Anna." He'll say to me every once in a while.

And when things get too familiar, He'll shake them up.

He's God.

I am not.

But He has let me familiarize myself with His face.

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In Ortberg's book "God is Closer than You Think", John compares God to Waldo.

Yes.

As in, "Where's Waldo?"

You open the book and on the first page Waldo is big and obvious.

Get to know him.

The way he dresses, his goofy smile.

Hopefully, you'll get to know him by heart.

Because as the pages turn, you have to do a little looking.

Flip the page.

The closer to the end of the book, the harder he is to locate.

But he is always there.

It is a promise.

The whole point of the book.

Waldo is on every single page.

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Ortberg tells us that he thinks it is this way with God.

God is everywhere.

On every single page.

But sometimes He is in disguise.

Sometimes, he does not look like we expect Him to.

Sometimes, he is not where we expect to find Him.

Hiding behind things.

Among things.

Our faith, our walk with the Lord, is about learning to recognize His face.

It's about learning to see Him everywhere.

Because He is in all things, which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable.

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God is closer than you think -

He is moving around you.

Maybe He has gone ahead of you and He's asking you to follow.

Maybe He's behind you, giving you a little shove.

Maybe He's beside you, holding your hand.

Maybe He's lifted you up onto His shoulders.

Maybe He's standing right next to you. And you've turned your back to Him.

Wherever He is.

He's close.

Maybe He's quiet.

Maybe He's being very, very still.

Maybe He's laughing out loud, or crying right along with you.

Maybe He's doing a little dance.

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My prayer is that you would see Him.

That you would know the face of your Father.

You would know the way He moves.

And the way He smells.

You would recognize that rumble of His laughter.

And you would fall still and quiet when He rises.

Never forgetting that He is in all kinds of unexpected places.

Because we are terrible, terrible judges of beauty.

Never forgetting that He moves in all kinds of weird and subtle and chaotic and simple ways.

Ways that are higher than our own.

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He is in everything.

My prayer for you is that your eyes would be opened.

That your discernment would be heightened so that when you walk into a room, regardless of where "Waldo" is hiding, you might find him.

By the way He moves.

By the way the wind blows as He walks by.