A friendship with God

A fellow church member from back in my Virginia days sent me a facebook message this morning.  Turns out, she is a writer now and serves as a guest writer for a ministry's blog.  She told me that today's post had been inspired by being in a class with my mom.  We haven't lived in Virginia in 16 years, so that my mom would have planted something positive that became that rooted in this woman's life is pretty special to me.

You can read the post here:  http://www.ourcircleoffriends.org/spiritual-nuggets/

The post is about asking God how to use our spiritual gifts to be a doer of His word.  That is a great lesson.  But what sticks with me is that she highlights the fact that my mom has an intimate friendship with God.  This blesses me in so many ways.  First of all, I am so thankful to have this model in my life.  It makes me take pause and understand that prayer was never a struggle or intimidating to me because I have also had a mother in constant communication with God.  Even when she was wandering at times in my youth, she patterned communicating with Him. 

In recent years, my mom has spent a lot of time in loneliness and isolation.  How grateful I am that she already had that friendship with God where she has and continues to talk to him all day because sometimes He was the only one there.

This also blesses me because it challenges me to remember God is my friend that wants to hear from me, and I can immediately take anything to Him.  Any time.  What better way to immediately extinguish the anxiety I allow to build up inside when I think I'll schedule a time to take an issue to Him later? 

When you are in continual conversation, there is an established intimacy, an easy flow of information, and safety.

A few examples of what that has looked like for me:
"You know God, I'm really surprised that I've never been to Paris.  I guess I always assumed I would have been there by now without ever doubting it.  And I've become a Francophile over the past year (minus the humanism) and that has kind of taken me by surprise.  I don't know what to do with that, but there you go."

"God, I don't know why I sent that work email just now that I didn't think was a big deal but turns out maybe it was a big deal to that one person and her own performance insecurities, but you can contain that even now."

"God, you know what? I really do have that one dream for x to look like y but I don't know how that could happen."   

"Lord, I really really want that baby to dance no matter what her doctors say." 


So, I hope this reminds you to converse with God today and listen for His voice and trust that He hears and cares.  I do believe that we should fear God in addition to loving Him, and I do believe there is a time for super-focused prayer - but I think this internal friendship talk is how we grow the intimate relationship that leads us boldly before the throne or into battle when the war comes.