Found in You

Firstly, I want to say thank you to everyone reading this, and those who have read and shown me support for my last two posts, I am so overwhelmed and so thankful. God most definitely is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLQlnaHpgJw - Secondly, watch this please :)

This song came on my iPod while it was on shuffle and I wasn't really paying that much attention to it - I was probably just like, "awh this is a nice song :)" but then one line really stood out to me and I started to listen. And actually listen. I find it so easy to bumble along with music, in particular worship music and not really pay attention to the words (which is kind of the point of worship music) and every now and then I feel God going, "seriously Gemma, this song is playing... you should LISTEN to it." So that's what I did when this line jumped into my ears,

"Jesus, everything I've lost I have found in you."

I apologise again for a rambly post but my train of thought was a little like this, "wow... that's such a nice line... actually it's so true..." and I started thinking about things I've felt I've lost. Confidence. Hope. Peace. The three words that I thought of that I have lost plenty of times. And another one - patience. And the significance of this line really started to kick me in the stomach. When I've lost confidence, I have found it in God. When I've lost hope, I have found it in God. When I've lost patience, I have found it in God. and when everything gets hectic and seems too much to handle - I have found peace in God.
My thoughts then continued and I thought about people who don't know God as well as I may do. Well, I don't know much of God, because He's God, He is uncomprehendable (?) and incomparable and as I've discovered ever deeper through reading the book "Indescribable" we have only glimpsed an extremely minute piece of His masterpiece, His message, His power and His ability (I could go on). But what I do know of God, and what I'm continually reassured of, is that He loves me. And He loves to comfort. And to anyone who yearns for Him, He will meet you. James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and He will come near to you..." He wants you to make the first move, He doesn't jump in and say - "that's it I'm gonna sort this out for you, you can't think for yourself any more." He waits for you to say "God, I need You." Then He says "Well, I've been here for a while... It's about time you realised it, but never mind that, you need me and I'm here, and we're going to get through this together."

"The time when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."

I'm sure most are familiar with the footprints poem, but if you aren't I urge you to google it or something because it has been a crucial part to my faith and I am continually reminded of that line. When I've lost confidence, I have found it in God - He's carried me through it. When I've lost hope, I have found it in God - He's carried me through it... And I don't know where I would be if I didn't have God, my constant crutch, propping me up when I stumble.
 I just had a thought of falling... falling backwards - the worst type of falling because you can't even see what you're falling onto and really have no control over how you land or what you land on - anyway, I had a thought of falling backwards, but onto a trampoline and as soon as I fell right down to the surface, I was sprung right back up again. God is my trampoline.
Another thought tangent - that trampoline analogy made me think of those faith tests everyone does at some point, where they get a friend to stand behind them and they fall, trusting that their friend is going to catch them. A lot of the time it is a completely trusting scenario where one person falls and the other person catches, but often the "faller" can lose faith at the last moment and step backwards instead of trusting the "catcher" to catch. And in the worst case scenarios the "catcher" actually ends up being the "dropper." But this is how it is with God - we fall, He catches us - every time. He will never drop us - ever. But we can sometimes lose our trust, and step back - not letting God catch us - maybe we think we don't need him, finding other things to pull ourselves back up with. But we will always fall again, and again and again. And we need to learn to put full trust in Him (I am aware this is sounding like my last post but I'll try and get off that).
Pulling it back to the song lyric - when we lose things and feel unsatisfied we can choose what to do. We can try and find them in earthly things, temporary things that will fade - things that will disappoint us. We can pretend everything is ok and carry on, lying not only to everyone on the outside, but to ourselves on the inside, leaving us feeling unhealthy and suffocated. Or we can admit we need help - we can allow ourselves to fall into God's outstretched arms, because He is willing to catch us and He can provide all that we need. We need to make the first move and tell God we need Him, because He won't invade on anyone who is closed off to him and we can't expect Him to move if we aren't 100% willing. We need to acknowledge. We need to ask.

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." - Matthew 7: 7-8

And if we feel like God isn't answering our prayers - we need to persist. Persist in prayer. Because He will answer when the timing is right. And God's timing is always right. Even if it seems like we don't have the time here, God is outside of our time, God created our time! So of course He knows what He's doing! Of course His timing is perfect! And we need to trust His ability - because all we need is found in Him.