The Constancy of His Presence

If you read my previous blog post, my word for 2016 is Presence. That was given and shown to me entirely by God and He is already teaching me so many lessons about His presence.

This week has been full of good things and bad things. Of events that made me excited and events that made my heart break inside.  Yet in the good and bad this week, His presence (which is HOPE) has been so constant. In the midst of all the tempests and the bliss, I’ve seen Jesus. His arms holding it all and creating more peace than I could ever imagine.

God has not spoken to me in a fiery roar this week. Yet just this week, I’ve felt His presence a lot more than I’ve felt in a while. I’ve seen His presence. It came in a coffee date yesterday with my good friends, where all we did is laugh. It came in a deep conversation with my friend over Messenger while she happened to be reading a book. At one point, the sentence she happened to be reading exactly matched up to what I was talking to her about. It came in a hug from a friend when I wasn’t expecting it. It came from a group chat with my Cedarville piers next year….from the inside jokes we’ve already created, the Disney memes, the encouragement we’re giving each other, the kindred spirits. It came in going to Starbucks for a chai tea latte, only to have a barista announce that he was in training and had just made a bunch of drinks that were now free samples for anyone who wanted them. It was playing with 7 six week old puppies for 2 hours before school. It was watching those puppies flock toward me when they heard my voice. It was all the beautiful sunrises and sunsets I took pictures of this week. It was the end result of the painting I did. It was the feeling of my warm favorite mug, filled with my favorite tea, when my hands were ice cold.

All of these things were God’s presence to me this week. These things used to be trivial, ordinary everyday life happenings. Yet this week I’ve seen them as God surprising me with things that make my heart sing, and sweeping me off my feet with hope.

God’s presence is constant. It’s always there. We just have to decide to look for it. We have to lay down the “everything that happens is just a coincidence” idea. In the good news and the bad news, God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. In the dark times and the beautiful times, this Presence, this Hope, is constant. Always and forever.