I love you too, Lord!

I'm continually blessed and amazed when our loving God chooses to stoop down and touch my heart at the most unexpected moments!

Like all of us, I've been going through some stuff lately. It's part of life... In fact it's a crucial part of life! The circumstances in our lives are the tools with which God shapes and molds us, the hammer and chisel He uses to chip away all those bits and pieces that conceal the people He intends us to be; people conformed to the character of His own Son. We can hardly be victors if we never face conflict; nor can we be overcomers without persevering through difficulties.

Most often, I turn to my Christian family for prayer and encouragement when dealing with tough times, but sometimes, those issues involve others who may not appreciate my sharing the details of their lives along with my own. The trial I've been dealing with lately is not mine alone, and so in order to respect the privacy of my family, I've kept my sharing to one trusted prayer partner and my God. The friend I'vd asked to pray is faithful to lift my name before the Lord, but in order to respect the privacy of others, we don't often discuss things beyond her reminders that she is praying and my VERY occasional and very general updates. God has been my confidante, my counselor, and my encourager. All this is just background to the blessing I received on Good Friday while attending a Seder dinner at church.

We had finished the second cup and were beginning our feast, each table being dismissed individually in order to facilitate serving. A somewhat new friend whom I don't often see, stopped as she passed our table to say "I have been praying for you! God has brought you to my mind lately at work everytime I perform a particular function on my computer, and I've felt a clear need to pray for you."

Later, when we could talk for a moment, I asked her what function it was that prompted her to think of me. She said that when she does data entry at work, there is a command to 'Maintain Records' that she must execute before logging off. She could not imagine why that particular function would remind her of me. I smiled, "Well, I'm a bookkeeper" I said, "maintaining records is a pretty accurate description of what I spend my days doing!" A grin spread across her face too. While she didn't know the reason for that particular prompt, it seemed a rather specific and clear indication that this was no coincidence! I understood that God was letting us both know that He was the initiator of her prayers and He delighted my heart with His very personal involvement in the circumstances of my life. I couldn't give her details, but I did explain that I've been going through some things that I really couldn't discuss with my small group. God obviously knew how much I needed prayer and how much we both would be encouraged by the evidence of His intense interest in all aspects of our days, right down to the computer command He used to bring my name to her memory!

What an awesome God! He has not only answered prayer again and again, but He instigates the prayers of His people on our behalf. He so clearly demonstrated His very tender love for me and His encouragement in my efforts to honor Him by keeping priveleged information from public venues in sharing my circumstances, that tears filled my eyes with gratitude! I recently read a comment made by Beth Moore in one of her Bible Studies. She said that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), so a more accurate response to God would be 'I love you too!', as He is the initiator of our faith, our love, our relationship with and to Him... hence the title of today's blog.