The following is an excerpt from our book True Intimacy.
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“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
Call to Me and I will answer you. You know, when you think about it, that is a really remarkable thing! The creator of the UNIVERSE is promising that if you call to Him, He WILL answer you! Oh, but wait, there’s MORE! He’s not just promising to answer you, Oh no, He is also promising that if you call NOW, you’ll not only receive an answer, but He’ll throw in – at no extra cost – great AND mighty things, which you do not know. So ACT NOW AND CALL! But don’t call on just anyone, no, call on the One who REALLY cares for you.
It was through calling to God and learning as much as I possibly could about HIM, that I found the love I’d been longing for my whole life. You see, according to 1 John 4:8 God is the definition of love. I have discovered that until I really knew that love, His love, I couldn’t really give that love. You simply can’t give what you don’t have. I learned that I needed to fall in love with God first. When I fell in love with God – something amazing happened – I began to fall even deeper in love with Christian! And that, has transformed us both. Psalm 147:3 says “[The Lord] heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” HE healed our broken hearts and HE healed our marriage. And if HE can do that for us then HE can heal you too. HE can; no one else. Jesus is the ONLY way.
You see, Jesus is the only way to the Father, and in my opinion the only real way to solve ANYTHING that you are facing in life as well. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He has come so that we may have a super-abundant life. Jesus didn’t come so that we could just simply survive here on earth and then live in heaven with Him. No! Jesus came so that we could surpass surviving and LIVE our lives with a FULLNESS that we can only achieve through His power. “How do I do that?” you ask? You call to Him. Life is filled with hardship, it just is. And when I’m going through a really hard time, I know that God is there, waiting to help me. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it, He’s there; with His arms open wide, ready to hold me. Love me. Comfort me. He’s there; ready to listen to everything I have to say. He’s there; ready to catch all my frustrations when I throw them His way. He’s God, He can handle them. I… can’t. In those times when I just can’t take it anymore He reminds me WHOSE I really am. I am HIS CHILD, His Precious Baby Girl. When my own baby girl is hurt or sad, I rush to comfort her, to soothe her, to make the hurt go away. When she was tiny I used to marvel at how I could sit with her on my lap and if she tucked her knees up close to her chest I could wrap my arms around her and lean over her in a way that my body would completely cover her, protecting her, taking away the hurt. For a child there is little more soothing than climbing into a parent’s lap and being wrapped up in their loving embrace.
Last night God woke me up in the stillness of the night to give me some extra TLC during a particularly difficult week. I followed His lead out to our living room where I wrapped up in a blanket and sat down in our big comfy red recliner. As I sat there with my feet tucked up under the blanket warm & cozy & still, I realized what God had done. Amidst this amazingly challenging and difficult time, He drew me away from all the noise and chaos, into the stillness and quiet of the night to spend some time on His lap (symbolized by the chair) wrapped up in His loving arms (symbolized by the blanket) to just snuggle and talk. I sure do love my Daddy! I can’t begin to explain to you how delicious it was to come to Him, curl up in His lap and relax with my head against His chest. Casting myself and all my burdens at Him knowing full well that in that moment He was tenderly holding me in His arms and cooing to me “Oh my Beloved, all is well, tell me about it.” He soothed me, and rocked away all the pain, and worry, and anger, and whatever else was bothering me. I called to Him and told Him all about it, and He took it ALL away. (Not necessarily the situation as much as my emotions and feelings about the situation.) And when I was done spilling my guts to Him, I felt like a completely different person… because I was!
So, now the question is, do you believe that He’s there for you? Listening to you? Are you willing to crawl up into His lap, snuggle into His chest, and let Him completely encircle you with His arms? If you are, while you’re up there, you’ll be close enough to hear His heartbeat, and touch His face. Then, in that moment, you will really be resting in the Lord and placing your faith in Him to do the things that He has promised to do. Then, you will truly know that He is real.
Today, make some time, I recommend a lot of it, to crawl into YOUR Father’s lap. Find a quiet private spot, preferably with a big comfy chair and a warm blanket, to pour your worries out at His feet like a drink offering onto the ground never to be returned to you. We all have problems; more numerous than we can count. So, start by telling Him all about them! Pour your heart out to Him, tell Him what hurts and why. Let Him pour out His soothing balm onto your soul, let Him heal your broken heart and mend your aching Spirit. Cry out to Him and let Him tell you great and mighty things! When you reach out to Him and truly trust Him completely, you will soar on eagles’ wings. You’ll start to see His face all around you; and experience the thrill of miracles, real miracles, in your life. Trust God, who better to lean on and give you rest than the comforter and creator of love Himself. Find rest in His arms, there is such a peace there because He is love… and all that love can be directed straight at YOU.
Christian’s comments:
In Jeremiah 33:3 God promises that when we call to Him, He will answer us. He does not, however, promise that the answer will be immediate, or that it will be “yes”, but He promises to answer. And He does, every time, with the answer that we need; not necessarily the answer that we want. Sometimes “No” is the best answer we can get. We may not want to hear it, but His answer is ALWAYS the correct one. As a parent, you know this to be true. Your kids can not have everything they want, so you have to tell them “No”. If you don’t have children, think back to when you were a kid. Try to remember when your parents told you “No”. You were probably upset by it; but as you think back about it, you (hopefully) realize that “No” was the correct answer. The reason we tell our children “No” is because we love them, and we want what’s best for them. We are all God’s children, and He loves us, and wants what’s best for us. That is why He tells us “No” sometimes.
As far as letting things go to Him, I still have trouble with it. I hold on to things. I have to really concentrate on giving it to Him. But Tamar is correct, when I do give everything to Him, I feel SO much better. I challenge you to do the same thing. It may feel strange, or difficult to you, but try it out. Find a quit place, and just pour your heart out to Him.
Tamar Knochel 