Overwhelmed by You

"You are not a genie in a bottle,

You are good and righteous and REAL.

You are present and powerful.

You are strong and mighty.

You are defined by so much more than just my problems.

You are more than where I stop myself,

defining myself with petty problems of this earth.

You are bold and big and the King of all dreamers.

You have so much more in front of me than what I can even see.

Thank you."

-My Personal Prayer Journal

I think it is a good thing to be overwhelmed by the Lord, and it is something that we don't focus on enough.

We talk about growth, and the seasons we go through, and we rejoice when we are brought out of it, but how often do we take the time to simply sit and be in awe?

To crumble to our knees in worship, prostrate before the Most High King.

We are a generation raised with a phone in hand, ready to take a picture. We are a people who crave beauty, we seek it out, we are physically designed to find perfection satisfying, and yet when it comes to the most perfect being of all that acts as the ONLY satisfaction for our soul, we rarely take the time to sit in awe.

I write all this to say, that lately I have just been sitting in the awe, basking in that brilliant sunset that is the Lord's beauty. Of growth and the stretching that comes with it, and in the beauty of what happens when the Lord brings to fruition things your soul has long since demanded, things that the Lord knows better than we do and will answer in the most intimate and intentional ways. Ways we never expect, on timelines that are vastly different than our own.

And sometimes being in the midst of all of that can seem a bit overwhelming in the best kind of way.

It is a blessing to have so much to say about the Lord, and not knowing where to start, other than simply saying "He is good".

It's hard to put into words matters of the heart, but while doing my quiet time this morning, I came upon this entry in my journal from the other morning, it's the same entry that's beneath that picture, and it just struck a chord with me: God cannot be defined by us, He is what defines us. He is not a wish granter, He is strong, powerful, present, all knowing, all loving, He is Abba Father, the Great Deliverer, Almighty One, Yahweh, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, He is every sunrise and every sunset - and in the simple pursuit of simply trying to watch Him we are to be overwhelmed with love, peace, joy, patience, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control!

I feel as though I've written a dozen posts about the goodness of God, and hesitate to write another, a post without a new revelation, a post that is too short or not profound enough, but I realised that we can NEVER brag on the Lord ENOUGH. That is something worth sharing in and of itself. A simple reminder for you and me that even when we aren't good, God is. Even when we don't feel like we are enough, or maybe we think we are too much, or that we are fine on our own, or that we can be satisfied by things and people of this world, here is a reminder that without the Lord we will always be lacking that goodness.

We could talk about a different attribute of God every day, and that would be wonderful, but His Word tells us to come to Him with prayer AND supplication AND thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-8). That is what makes us bold, that is why we can come to Him without fear.

We are to ALWAYS praise the Lord! Always revel in His goodness! Always rejoice and praise Him with song and dance, because He is God, and He is good, and more than simply good, He is GREAT.

I'm also confident I've probably referenced Chris Renzema's song "God is Love" a dozen times, but that's because the words are so true: "Cause He is good, And He is God, What I earned, It's not what I got, And He is just, Yet also kind, What I deserve, It's not what I find, What more could I say about Him? My God is love."

What more is there to say indeed. My God is love. My God is goodness. And when we are sitting before Him, revelling in that, we begin to pour it back out to those around us.

I think the only limit to what our relationship with God can look like is the limits we set for ourselves in simply being human. In thinking that the goodness and love the Father pours out on us is conditional based on our behaviour, or flawed like our human emotions can be, that it is something that we must bleed and sweat and prove ourselves for, but the reality is, it is something that simply is.

In microeconomics this past semester, we were taught about two different kinds of statements: positive and normative statements.

A normative statement is concerned with what "ought to be". It is a hypothetical assumption about something existing in ideal or specific conditions.

A positive statement is concerned with "what is". No arguments, no hypotheticals, it is the immovable truth.

I can say with full confidence that God's goodness and love is a positive statement.

No arguments, no rebuttals, no conditions or cryptic messages, it simply is.

It is not our behaviour that defines, affects, or shapes God, but rather Him in us that shapes us and crafts our actions, intentions, and purpose.

In the coming weeks, I hope to share with you the things God has been teaching me through these moments of awe, these experiences that have reminded me of the simple fact that God is for me, and I hope that in the mean time you take the chance to simply sit. To be. To listen. To yearn for the greatness available to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the most beautiful majesty you will ever look upon...

-Emma

"Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."