Like Little Children

I love teaching Eden new things. She is undoubtedly the least jaded person I know. When I tell her things about God, she has no reason to not believe me. She accepts what I say is truth and there isn't any questioning. During the 21 days of prayer and fasting recently, she would randomly walk up to me and say, "God loves me so much." I kind of actually got annoyed. As if somehow my little girl was boasting about her security in Christ, and it unseated my security, like why after 26 years do I still struggle to walk around feeling that confident in such a simple, foundational truth?? So I was telling Chad about it and he laughed out loud, "Charis, I have been praying every morning that she would know how much God loves her."

When I was praying this morning about what to share the first day of our devotional, I found my own quiet time was getting congested with a few repetitive verses. I am kind of a creature of habit when it comes to reading the Bible every morning, and so I usually stick to the same routine: I love reading portions of a New Testament gospel and book, an Old Testament book chapter, and then I read the Proverb and the psalm that correlates with the day in increments of 30. Is that confusing? Like for example, today is the 10th, so I will read Psalm 10, 40, 70, 100, 130. Can I please tell you how many times that there will be a theme in every single random book I am reading in the Bible? God is so intentional!!! And if that seems like a lot of Bible reading, don't feel any condemnation! You read until it speaks to you- and you find something you can hide away in your heart. I usually find that I have a good chunk of time to myself in the morning, and if I don't fill it with the Word of God I will fill it with the word of Charis- and that's junk. I need Truth or else I'm a swarm of lies.

This morning I feel like God wants to highlight His lowness. That sounds weird, being that God is in the highest Heavens, but I felt like He wants to emphasize His nearness. Which makes Him low, still choosing to have the Holy Spirit reside beneath a canopy of atmosphere and gravity, encased in the flesh and blood of humanity. He loves us so much that He chooses to be with us, right now. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our helper in John 14, and that word helper in the Greek is the word paraklatos, which is translated the helper, advocate, counselor, called to one's side, or called to one's aid. The words for Holy Spirit are actually hagios pneuma; hagios meaning most holy thing, and pneuma literally being translated breath. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the called to our side in such close proximity that it is like breath on our skin, He is breathing new life, new hope, new energy, new Truth into us today.

I was struck today in Psalm 40 with the truth that God does not forget us. He is never not mindful of you. Sometimes I let the number of the people on the planet disqualify me from feeling significant. Just because I do that to myself doesn't mean the Lord agrees. There could be nineteen billion people on earth, and He still would have a mind full of thoughts towards you.
"Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak them, they are more than can be numbered."( Psalm 40:5 NKJV)
 "And you think of us all the time, thinking of us all the time with your countless expressions of love-far exceeding our expectations." (Psalm 40:5 Passion Translation)
"I know I am always in Your thoughts, You are my true Savior and Hero, so don't delay to deliver me now. For You are my God." (verse 17 Passion Translation)

If I had just read that Psalm today, it would have been enough. But in my typical fashion I read Psalm 70, where it says in verse 5 "Lord, in my place of weakness and need, won't You turn Your heart toward me and hurry to help me? For You are my Savior and I am always in Your thoughts."


Somehow in the time it took for us to grow up, we seem to have collectively lost the wonder over the way the Bible speaks about God's heart towards us. At least for me, I can easily just move past verses like this and forget to let them settle in my heart as a whisper of love straight from the breath of the Holy Spirit to me. God is so much more than a human, in that He meant those words to the Psalmist who wrote them, to the men who read them centuries ago, and He also means them to us with the same fresh, impact that He spoke them originally. Jesus tells us in Mark 10:15,  "I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." If I told Eden that God thinks about her all the time, she wouldn't even blink. She'd tuck that truth into her tiny little heart and let it marinate there in simplicity. Let's be like her today.

His thoughts (and that word actually means thought, plans, and purposes) towards us are too many to count.  That truth alone points us back to what it means to be a woman who, like Proverbs 31:30 says, fears the Lord. Fear makes us see the sanctity of life, the sanctity of moments. We may wake up today and feel haphazardly thrown together, arriving at our destinations frazzled and half-heartedly. But God has us on His mind, and He has purposes for us today. Purposes not only for us to encourage others, but to be encouraged. Purposes for us to find beauty in the moments, in the littlest encounters, in the small pieces of life that speak to us one long love note from God Himself.

Almost 8 years ago I was on a bus in Juarez, Mexico on a mission trip when one of our leaders started freaking out from the backseat, "You guys! Years ago I asked the Lord for a sign that I could see in every day life to remind me how much He loves me, and I felt like the first thing that came to my mind was a star and look!" She pointed out to a mountainside, now framed in the setting sun, and there, shining brilliant and dwarfing the mountain itself was a star made up of tiny lights. "I see them everywhere, you guys! You have to wait on God and see if He gives you a symbol to look for!"
I sat back in my seat, and I rolled my eyes. Of course Ali would get a star. She was like as close to perfect as a human could get. But as I settled back in my seat, I found myself asking God in almost a dare, for a sign. And I saw a magnolia blossom. I kind of laughed because I literally could not ever remember seeing a magnolia blossom in real life. I almost forgot about it until I get back to Baylor's campus a week later. I had never seen campus in the spring, and on the first morning I was making the walk back to classes, I realized that the massive trees that had only been filled with glossy green leaves littering every single pathway and open space on the face of the campus now errupted with these gorgeous, flawless, breathtaking magnolia blossoms. I felt in that moment the suprise of God's love for me, for Charis, in such a new way that I pretty much sobbed like a baby. He loves me.

So I want you today, as homework, to get a lone with God at some point. Even if that means you lock yourself in a bathroom stall. And ask Him for a symbol to look for to remind you how much He loves you. If you're first thought when I say that is, "isn't that kind of selfish? or needy?" Girlfriend, when Eden comes up to me and asks, "Mommy, do you love me?" My first reaction is NEVER to think she is needy or selfish. She is three, and she needs constant truth to know what is truth. It delights my heart to remind her, "Yes baby, Momma loves you." If I feel that way, and I'm just a flawed human, how much MORE does God's heart yearn to whisper that same truth to you? So go ahead, and ask Him for a symbol. Maybe you won't see it for a week, but I can guarantee that when you do see it, you will need it. It will be like a kiss from the Holy Spirit.

I know I keep making us do things that are extra-Biblical, like waiting on God and waiting to hear Him speak- but I think that God loves using our faculties- our imaginations, our minds, our eyes, to speak to us. He created them, after all! Obviously, He will never speak in contradiction to His word, and that's why is important we know what His word says so we can test every single thing we hear or see by it-- but I think He loves using our minds! Jesus was constantly using the physical world to draw parallels with spiritual truths, and I think He still wants to do that for us today!
So get to it, and ask Him for a reminder of His great love for you!