Journey Day 205- part B

Want to know what I'm discovering? Sometimes when God reaches out to us it isn't always going to be calm and peaceful. Sometimes for God to make us righteous he has to rock the boat a little bit. In Jimmy Needham's song "Hurricane", he talks about how he needs God to be like a hurricane, an unstoppable force in his life, that knocks down the walls that are keeping him from growing. "I don't want to be safe tonight." While we may think being safe protects us, in the end it simply keeps us from growing. "And if destruction's what I need, I'll recieve it Lord from thee." We can't expect our relationship with God to be a walk through a field filled with sweet smelling roses. There are going to be bumps along the way, and sometimes the God we need at our side is the warrior, not the gentle shephard. Another song that talks about God's strong love for us is "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan. "He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree. Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy." God doesn't just hold our hand, kiss the top of our head, and tell us everything is going to be ok. Sometimes His love is overwhelming and as forceful as a hurricane, bringing us to a place we didn't want to go. Sometimes His love will expose the very thing we have been trying to desperately to hide from him. It isn't to harm us, but to show us where we are wrong, and that God is the only way we will ever be better. But He says to us, "dear one, there is nothing about you that I don't see and LOVE. Why do you want to turn from me? I love you with an everlasting love, and I'm going to show that love to you in a way that may hurt at first. I might have to take away something that you think is what you need, but remember I know best. I know what you need. And my timing is perfect. And sometimes to bring you to the perfect place I have to bring you through the desert. This isn't to harm you, only to help you because some things in your life are distracting you from me. I have to remind you of how much you need Me! My grace and redemption calls to you and My love invites you in. Don't lose hope in the desert, because I wait for you on the other side, with open arms."