Desperate For God - letter written by Immanuel Bible Church member & Casting Crowns song "Praise You In This Storm"

Desperate For God - letter written by Immanuel Bible Church member & Casting Crowns song "Praise You In This Storm"

I really related to a few things that this church member wrote in the following letter and I thought you might enjoy reading it, too AND it also reminded me of the song below (video)...

"I like to think of myself as somewhat independent and capable.  Characters such as Jo March in Little Women and the noble princess  Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings appeal to me.  But recently, in our study of Jacob in the book of Genesis, speaker and author Nancy Guthrie explained the value of being desperately dependent upon God.

Referring to the time when Jacob wrestled with God, 'prevailing' to the point where God 'touched' his hip socket, Guthrie observed that God crippled Jacob-and called it a blessing!  Thereafter he would be called Israel ('strives with God'), and thereafter he could not help but remember his desperate dependence upon the Lord.  (Genesis 32:29)

Nancy Guthrie put it this way:  'For God to have our hearts sometimes requires the divine dislocation of whatever it is that makes us strong, so that Christ's strengths can shine through our weaknesses... To be truly blessed by God is not to emerge from the struggles of life unscathed, but to emerge from them having been pressed more deeply in to God, to have become more desperate for God.'

I had to ask myself, am I desperate for God?  Do I view my struggles and pain in life as a place where God meets me and blesses me, pressing me into a more intimate relationship with Him?  Can I thank God in the midst of my struggles and surrender my will to His?  Or do I whine and resist and arch my back when the storms come?

I have a friend who has weathered more storms in the past ten years than most of us will experience in a lifetime.  She once told me that when the crisis hits we can either shake our fist at God-or we can cling to Him ever tighter.  There really is no in-between, is there?

I want to be a woman who clings to God, desperate for Him and His blessing.  Whatever that looks like, to be "pressed in to God," that really is the best place to be, isn't it?

Serving with love,

Bethany"