How can I understand just how good God is and how perfectly He loves me? I read this in the Bible, I know it to be true, God’s Truth. Today I understood that I may be challenged, that God may lead me to places I fear to go.  Are you ready for all that I have for you?  Are you willing to trust Me on our journey?  Will you go wherever I lead you?

I have trusted Him in times of fear and trouble, when I had nowhere else to turn, after trying to handle the impossible myself. But trust in God must come first, not last. Trust in God is not only the answer but the aim. He says that I am never lost when I walk at His side.  My own strength has limits, it can falter and fail me. God does not falter. He never fails me. God is all-powerful. I can rely on Him. I will go wherever He leads me.

Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

I walked to the pond today and three koi swam toward me from the middle.  Yellow-gold, orangey red and silvery white.  I smiled.  The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.  We are here.  We will be with you always.

There is a God who loves me.  Jesus sacrificed Himself to save me.   The Holy Spirit dwells in me and guides me.  God Is and He will never leave me.  He will never fail to listen and speak to me because He loves me.  I am His child.  He is waiting for me to come to Him for everything.  For anything.  I am filled with joy and anticipation for a year of walking with God!

So he set off and went to his father.  But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:20

One day the Creator of the Universe called me to the park.  A gentle finger tapping my shoulder over and over, He beckoned me to put down my work and go.  So I did.

I started in my usual way.  For years I had been walking at the park, striding purposefully to the loud music in my headphones, seeking exercise, accomplishment, escape.  This day, after a song or two, I felt a prompting to turn off the music, put away the devices and open myself to God.  Speak to Him.  Listen for Him.

The park changed this August afternoon. I began to see Him everywhere. Birdsongs colored the trees. Holy Spirit glowed within me.  I whispered to God an unbridled rush of thoughts, pleadings, fears, and concerns.  The empty paths along the woods invited me to share my full voice with the expanse and I did, while God captured every word, as a friend keeping pace. He was there.  He had been with me all along.

Why had I never noticed? I had been to this park hundreds of times but never strolling and delighting in God.  No, I had been trying to reach for peace with strides of exertion and only exhausted myself in the effort.  God offered to refresh me with His presence.  On this day, the voice within me said, “I will be walking with you.”  So I returned to walk with God every single day.  

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. James 4:8