Having a Thing with God

Everything familiar to my dear friend is stripped from her. Moving took it all away. And there's not much I can do about it. I stay in contact, text, call, visit even, but each day she gets up in a new place and does it alone. I can't be there to help her. Though her husband is, and cares deeply, he can't fix it for her either. She continually makes a conscious choice to be content, to push herself out of her comfort zone, to make it work, though her heart is elsewhere. No one can do it for her. She does it alone.

We all have things like that. This summer I went to Africa with a group of people I didn't know. No one close to me can share the feeling I get when I look at my pictures. No one knows the stirring in my heart as I tell of my experiences there or remember how God showed Himself strong. They can be interested, but they can't really get it because they weren't there with me. I did it alone.

I do some speaking engagements and while I have people praying for me and supporting me, I still have to stand before a bunch of strangers and talk. I'm the one agonizing over what to say. I'm the one who deals with the butterflies. They can't do it for me. I do it alone.

No doubt you have similar experiences. Maybe you're fighting an illness or struggling with a child or facing financial difficulty. Maybe you're in a funk you can't get out of or confused about the next step to take. Maybe your job is stressful or your relationships taxing. Those around you can be loving and supportive, but they can't do it for you, can they?

Why is that? Why does God give us things we must do alone?

He's jealous for us.

That's right. He's jealous for us. He wants us all to Himself. He wants the opportunity to make it His special thing with us.

You know how a married couple has intimate moments they share only between themselves? These things, besides the sexual union, bind them. Think about having a child, of witnessing the birth of a new creation together. That child, a piece of each of them, ties them together forever.

We share intimate moments with family and friends, conversations that are personal and precious, actions that speak louder than words. We feel close because we've shared something special, something not all are privy to.

And so I wonder if those things we "do alone" are God's way of grabbing special time with us. If we are alone, the only thing we have is Him, right?

No one understands the flood of emotions that grip me when I walk up to a podium. But God does. He knows it and He fills me and He knows how I feel when He does. It's our thing.

I can't adequately retell my experience standing under a mango tree in the Rwenzori mountains, listening to a group of women praise God in a foreign tongue. I thought my heart would burst with God's goodness. I can't explain it to you, but God gets it perfectly. It's our thing.

I don't know what it's like to wake up in a different community every day and start my life over like my friend has to, but God does. He loves her so much He wants her all to Himself. He wants to be her only source of strength and comfort. He wants a thing with her.

Are you doing something alone right now? Could God be drawing you to Himself? Could He be wanting personal time, a chance to build intimate memories with you? Don't see the aloneness as a curse. Look for the blessing. Find Him in it.

Start a thing with God.



Related post: Some Things You Have to Do By Yourself

Photo Credit: Christolakis