Where vs. There

Today was an incredible day. The weather was perfect for a vacation day at the beach with the people I love most. We took our children out on their first-ever salt water fishing expedition. All five of us had a blast!
As we were riding down the road this afternoon I had one of those moments Max Lucado calls 'eternal instants' when you feel like your soul may have just gotten a glimpse of the joy, peace and love it will experience in heaven. It was 73 perfect degrees outside under a clean blue sky. We had our windows rolled down and the sunroof open. As sunshine cascaded in and gently kissed our skin, Sugarland was playing on the car stereo. I had my left hand on my husband's shoulder and my children were happily giggling in the back. It was a rare moment where there was nothing on my mind except reveling in that moment. I breathed deep and thanked God. His loving presence seemed so undeniable.

I was thinking about a sermon I was listening to the other day where Andy Stanley referenced the phrase "Where's God? There's God." He described the way we get tangled up in upsetting, messy experiences in this world. In our pain, sadness, overwhelm we cry out, "Where is God?" Then there are countering moments--often simple things--that fill our souls with peace and the undeniable sense of, "Oh, there's God!"

I pray that God will always give me the desire to look for Him in each season of my life. There have been plenty of moments in the last year where I have felt so confused by the apparent absence of God in a situation. Just because I cannot see Him easily doesn't mean He isn't there. Quite the contrary! Scripture is clear that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Scripture also promises that we will find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts. I find that where I get into trouble is when I stop at the first question "Where is God?" without persisting until He reveals Himself "Oh, there is God!"

May we hold tightly to the "There's God" moments as reminders during the seasons when His Hand seems harder to trace.