Thanks be to God that he loves us so much that he pursued a relationship with us to the point that He sent His one and only son to live and die for us. Oh yeah, and he rose from the dead that our relationship with God could be restored (2 Peter 3:18).

1) Last Monday night my beloved Granda Louise told my Aunt she wanted to go to heaven. 30 minutes later she went to be with the Lord. I know that I will see her and her daughter (my mom) again when my time comes or when the Lord returns.

2) The Lord provided for me in a way that I am still trying to process. It literally left me speechless (I lost my voice). I will share more on this next week.

3) I experienced the presence of the Lord in a raw and humbling way.  The authors of The Relational Soul, Rich Plass & Jim Cofield facilitated a Leader Summit for a sister church in KC and they invited our church to join. They used the Enneagram (a personality profile), to show how God made us and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139 NIV

1You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17How precious to me are your thoughts,a God! How vast is the sum of them!
18Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

19If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

We cannot run from the presence of the Lord. We need to slow down, embrace that, seek that, be still in that. The Lord loves us, he pursues us relationally and we need to stop and receive that, and pursue Him relationally.  May the Lord transform our hearts as we experience his amazing presence throughout the days, weeks, months and years!