Faith Stories: Who Is The God You Know?

Faith Stories: Who Is The God You Know?

Recently, I have intentionally contemplated this question: Who is the God I know? As I pondered the revelations that came to mind, the ending song lyrics from the 1976 Paul McCartney and Wings song called “Silly Love Songs” repeats in my mind: How can I tell you about my loved one? How can I tell you about my loved one?

Just the thought of it takes my breath away. Are there enough words?  Do they carry such depth of meaning and greatness of truth to even begin to convey the big and wonderful ways I know our loving God?

Perhaps you might find the God you know in my reflections. Or maybe these reflections will prompt you to know God in new or forgotten ways.

The God I know is:

• my perfect, heavenly Father who will lovingly, eagerly pursue me all the days of my life, longing to be with me, his creation, and me with him
• my guide; my enlightenment and peace found in persecution, as I travel dark valleys or steep mountains; I know him as my assurance and am so grateful for the presence of Him when the path before me is unclear
• my power when I am weak; my self-discipline when I am ill-controlled; my focus when I am distracted
• the One that I see every day in those who love him, those who walk upon this earth in His service as his hands and feet to the broken world
• in the one with whom I worship and pray in this, His church, and delight in among the church universal
• the tie that binds me to you and you to me, my brothers and sisters in Christ  
• the One that feeds my family through the blessing of the Shepherd’s Market
• the One that sends the wisdom of his Holy Spirit, whether in teaching or in learning
• the provider, as in the mother by marriage that offers a home and a bed
• the loving, patient Father when I flee to those things that are outside of Him, as he waits the return of the prodigal, to embrace and forgive
• the voice of reason when I want to cry out
• the One that empowers me into servanthood 
• my courage in vulnerable moments
• the One who knows me thoroughly – knows my sins, my brokenness, my weaknesses – and loves me fully in spite of it all 
• the One who will never turn his back on me, never forsake me, even as the world brings rejection and heartbreak
• the One who says lift your head and know the good and perfect purpose I have planned for you
• the hope of a future with Him, healed, even as the world brings dis-ease and illness
• compels me to seek Him in prayer, to be willing to let this cup pass, should my longings of this life not align with His desire for me
• trustworthy and sure – never failing to hold me to account in my errors, to call me to correction, for my benefit and His glory
• the One who anticipates my heavenly reunion with him, having prepared a place for me not only in life everlasting, but in this, His kingdom on earth
• in the seeing, the hearing, the speaking, the living, the serving, the action…so that others will know Him, too

So, who is the God you know? How can you tell me about your loved one? I pray you have been experiencing and discovering God in new ways during this time apart, but together in spirit.

Natalie Cooper