"I Am With You!"

My journey with Father has been very much up and down, over the years. Perhaps there were too many peaks and troughs? There have been periods when the sense of His presence was so great, that I kept saying, "I never knew he was so close!" and "I will never be the same again!"

The last statement was true, because not long afterwards, that sense and feeling of His presence left me. It was taken from me. It was as if God knew what was on my heart and so wanted to raise the game. I was pitched into a dry 'wilderness' and for a long time it felt as if God just was not there. I felt bereft! I had to learn a very important lesson the hard way - is there any other way? - that His presence does not depend upon our senses or feelings or perception. I discovered that, if anything, He is even closer and available during those lonely, difficult times, than when everything appears rosy.

My journey of discovery continues.

When we become a Christian there is one absolutely amazing truth that is set in concrete and will never ever change. God, our loving Jesus, is with us. It may seem at times that He is hiding Himself from us, but I believe that is only because He longs for this intimate closeness to be more of a reality within us.

To know and know with concrete certainty on an on-going basis, that Jesus is with us, is absolutely life-changing and mind-blowing. This truth and reality is - He is - our security, our comfort, our strength, our life and our future.

He knows we need Him because that's the way we are made. But in a way that I don't understand, He needs us, although much of the time He has to do without us. He longs for our response.

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20 New International Version