Conversations with God

In The Shack by Paul Young, the main character Mac has a series of conversations with the characters portraying the Trinity. Conversations like these that I've had with God mean everything to me. We know so little and think we know so much. What a life changing experience it is to just come and sit by his side and talk. Just come with empty hands open to receive. Come with an open heart and an open mind expecting to always be filled with something new. It takes some practice, but we must learn how to let go of everything else but that moment. I don't need Jesus to prove to me who he is or that my take on some doctrine is correct, I just need to listen and ask questions. I need to let the immensity of his intensely personal love overwhelm me and draw me into new spaces. These conversations have changed me forever.

I'd encourage you to have a conversation with God. Go somewhere quiet and peaceful where you can be alone and undistracted. Ask God to meet you there for a chat. Then just sit and wait and listen and focus your mind on him. There is nothing mystical about it, you're just making space for God to speak to you relationally like he wants to do with all of us. Don't get frustrated if you can't focus your thoughts or settle your mind. Don't worry if you feel like God did not show up or the conversational thoughts and ideas don't come. The act of deciding to take time for this is important in itself. Just taking steps to know God more is growth in itself. Rest in those steps and know there will be more steps and more conversations.

Know that these times with God will change you. Don't resist those changes. Let the curiosity and desire to know God more help you reconsider your identity, your thoughts and beliefs. We can't hear from God and then make those realizations fit into our pre-existing state. Letting go of things will cost you and it will take time. The Holy Spirit will help us to keep building truth upon truth.

Like Bilbo Baggins says, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

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