HE is ALL AROUND!

It's a brand new week again!

These few weeks have spelt S.T.R.E.S.S. for me, so much so that all the going-ons around me becomes a blur. I am just like moving on from one activity to another, one place to another, one task after another...yea just get it done, keep going...

Yet God has been good. Quiet Time passages point to Jesus, and He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Everyday, He speaks peace into my anxious being, my restless thoughts, my wandering mind. It is so amazing. God is so near, He is so close to our hearts! He knows our thoughts even before we think of them, He feels our anxiety and comes through for us even before we have considered turning to Him. I felt so guilty. I have not turned to God but He chose to let me know that He understands my anxiety and speaks so specifically to me about my unfounded worries.

This week, I am faced with the challenge of going to Europe for a business trip all by myself. It has been a long time since I last went travelling on my own, I normally would choose to go with some company. Worries plagued me...the travel, pickpockets, weather, food, getting lost, missing the train...etc etc etc. Yet I forgot something important. God is everywhere. "...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Matt 28:20. What an assurance! I look forward to encountering God, even in Europe, yes.

Excerpts from "Closer to God" passage by Jonathan Bell
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"We can sometimes think of heaven as some place way out there in outer space. As a result, God can seem remote, distant and hard to access. We can perhaps feel as if we're alone much of the time. We'll express this in odd ways. People sometimes start a church meeting by saying something like,"God, as we come into your presence.." and I imagine God responding, "Where do you think you've been the rest of time?" As David puts it so eloquently in Psalm 139:7-10. "Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are htere; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me." Jesus himself said, "...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:20) So, where could you possible go that causes you to be outside the presence of God?

...We worship his majesty and encounter him intimately as the one who is closer to us than the air we breathe, who is everywhere and right here, right now."

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So the next time you take in a deep breath, remember that He is with you.