Friends Forever

John 15:15

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you.”

During my first week of freshmen year, I had to meet with my counselor to set up my four year plan. I still remember running to the car, bawling my eyes out because I had no idea what classes to pick out, or what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Then Junior year came around, and college started to become the topic of every conversation. Everyone and their mother was asking me where I wanted to go, how I was going to get there, and what I wanted to do; and still I had no idea, because God had not told me yet. Then, I had a revelation and realized what I was passionate about, and God led me to the right college. I was accepted and I was confident that I would be going to Biola University, studying kinesiology, so that I could do therapy with special needs kids. But five days before move in day, God had a completely different plan and redirected my steps, leading me to apply for IGNITE instead. I can tell you with total honesty, that during those five years of my life, I was absolutely confused at what God was doing in my life. No matter how many times people directed me to Jeremiah 29:11, I, for the life of me, could not believe that God truly had a purpose and plan for me. This verse says that everything Jesus hears from God, he makes known to us, but I didn’t see that coming true in my life. As I sit here typing this IBS, however, God is revealing to me the reason why. As much as I loved the Lord, I was more concerned with the information I could get out of him about MY future, MY purpose, and MY plan, rather than seeking Him in order to gain knowledge about who he is. That is one of our human flaws, is it not? We are relational people, but we so often look at relationships as, ‘What can I get out of this? What are you going to give to me?’ And when it comes to God, we picture him as someone far off, too out of reach, and too vast to ever understand. That is the way I pictured God only six months ago, when MY plans for MY life were not working out. But they weren’t working out because MY plans did not align with the Lord’s, and I was not praying for God’s will to be done, I was simply praying that what I wanted would work out. I had the opportunity to give a speech at my high school graduation, and I remember encouraging my classmates to live passionately, and be okay with not knowing. I have to laugh at that, because I clearly had no idea what was to come in my life. But Isaiah 55:6, 8-9 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near…For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  There will never be a time in my life, where I can for-see God’s actions, but that should be my motivation to pursue Him with even greater passion and persistence. I will never, ever be able to comprehend the vast mystery of the Lord, but He is always calling me to come. To come and lean into his love, rest in his grace, and discover the depths of his being. He longs for me to know him deeply, just as he has intimately known me since before I was born. Jesus says that he doesn’t call us servants anymore, but friends. I am a daughter of Jesus, adopted into the fold and given his holy spirit to lead me, and I am a friend of the Son of the Most High God! I may not always know what He is doing, but I do know who he is, and he is always speaking to me. He sings through the birds, dances in the leave rustling breeze, rages and rolls with the tide, and shines through rays of light. He surrounds me, engulfs me, and captivates me, but it is my choice to listen, or not. Hosea 6:3 says, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Jesus, I will press on to know you as my father, my shepherd, and as my very best friend. 

Application: Today, I will write in my journal, who God is to me, and all of the attributes I can think of, that so perfectly describe what a loving Father, and precious friend, he is.