Does your heart long to be closer to God? The good news is that He wants to be closer to you – He loves you so much!
In my own life, I’ve discovered that the way to get closer to Him is to spend time with Him. When I feel out of sorts and disconnected from God, I ask myself, “Are you spending time with Him?”
That’s how we avail ourselves to miracles and put ourselves in a position of peace and rest so we can clearly hear His perfect guidance for our life. Putting God first, sitting at His feet, reading His words, and listening to His voice gets us closer and closer to Him, and it does us so much good!
But here’s the deal… God leaves it up to us.
He’s always available, but He’s waiting for us to draw near. He’s not going to come rudely barreling into our life, telling us what to do or how He can help – He’s a gentleman. It’s up to us how much time we spend in His Word, in prayer, and meditating. It’s up to us how close we want to get. Isn’t that marvelous? We get to decide how close we want to be to God!
Who Moved?
It reminds me of a story I heard once. Once upon a time, a young man was dating a young woman. If you happened to be driving behind his pick-up truck when the two of them were on a date, you’d see the young lady sitting so close to her beloved on the bench seat that from your car behind they almost looked like one person.
Fast forward several years – the two got married, had a couple of children, and now if you drove behind them, you’d see the young woman sitting over on the passenger side of the pick-up next to the door and him sitting behind the wheel.
One day she looks over at her husband and says, “Honey, I feel like we’ve grown apart.”
Her husband looks at her, then looks at the steering wheel – looks at her again and looks at the steering wheel again. Finally he says, “Who moved?”
It’s like that in your relationship with God. He is always the same – He never moves. He is always available, always loving you, always ready to help, always ready to draw near. You are the one who moved away. Most of the time it happens gradually – like it probably did for that young couple. You get busy with life, and other things take up your attention and time.
But one day you look around and realize that you’re not as close to God as you used to be, or you want to be. He’s still in the same place, waiting for you, but you’ve scooted away. The good news is, you can scoot back!
He’s not mad or resentful toward you. He won’t say, “What took you so long?” or cast any disparaging looks at you.
No, He’s waiting – with open arms – to welcome you back to the closeness! Or maybe to welcome you to that kind of closeness for the first time.
Copyright © Karen Jensen Salisbury
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Karen Jensen Salisbury has been in ministry for almost 30 years, and a writer for almost 40. She and her first husband, Brent, traveled as itinerant ministers, and also pioneered two churches in the Northwest.
In 1997, upon Brent's unexpected death, she became Senior Pastor of their church in Boise, Idaho. She raised their sons, Josh and Ryan, through their teenage years into young men on fire for God.
Karen was an instructor at Rhema Bible Training College in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma from 2005 to 2014. In March of 2014 she married businessman Bob Salisbury, and they live in Minneapolis. Now in addition to writing books, Karen travels across the U.S. and overseas, sharing what she has learned about the faithfulness of God through good times and bad.
Her teachings and writings have influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Her humor, her never-give-up attitude, her love for God and her strong stand on His Word will bless and inspire you.