Draw Near

It is truly amazing how quickly the scenery changes, when you let God do the driving.  Remember how two years ago my husband took a job out of town, worked there for five months, we tried to sell our house, and in the end he came back, we kept our house, and resolved to live here and love it?  Well, we'd been trucking along that way, and had even decided to refinance.  Then came the refining fire of January, and little things started happening which awakened my desire to sell again (let's face it, its not that hard.  I obsessively house-hunt online even when I'm not in the market).

Anyhoo, this could become a very long story, but to make it somewhat shorter: God sent us buyers for our home. They are wonderful people who God prompted me to email while I was praying (in the middle of the night) about listing the house.  People we had no reason to think would be in the market.  When we emailed them out of the blue the next day, they said they'd recently been told they had to get out of their rental.  It's been a couple of weeks, and we've arrived at this: in a market that's better but far from recovered, we sold our house for the price we needed without even listing it.  This happens approximately never.  Everyone I tell the story to is just flabbergasted by it.  But the thing is, God does all kinds of things we can't predict or imagine or expect.  And what has happened to us, I am positive, wouldn't have happened without His intimate involvement.

So how to get God intimately involved?  This is where that refining fire comes in, the one where I felt God literally (and painfully) change my approach to life.  Since January, God has blessed me with a longing for Him.  A thirst that He keeps quenching and nothing else can.  A longing not only to read a daily devotional, but to crave it and prioritize it (before, I might have easily gone a few days or a week without remembering it).  A longing to read books which challenge me to see God's work and His kingdom in new ways.  A longing to seek out and  nurture friendships with women who are also walking with Him.  A longing to show non-believers what He can mean in their lives.  Most of all, a longing to pray and not just by reciting words, but by asking questions, listening quietly for answers, and obeying confidently when they come.  I think I had become somewhat settled in my walk with God, but He shook me up, made me thirsty again, and made all these things the water I want to drink.

All these things, prompted by God and certainly not out of my own abilities or inclinations.  The result has been a rich harvest of blessings, but not in a "you obeyed and now you will be blessed" sort of way.  No, please hear me on this, I can't emphasize enough that this is how it has worked for me: when I draw near to God, He will work in my life.  Draw near, and He will respond.  Draw near by reading His Word, studying with discernment, surrounding yourself with godly friends, giving your testimony to others, and praying without ceasing.

Then get ready to be blown away.