The warmth falls in and fills me, in places that have grown strangely cold.
I keep asking, what is this feeling? This longing that’s been nagging at my soul? It seems a searching for something more than what can be found in every-day-daily life, or perhaps even in this world at all.
A growing desire is stirring that I can’t quite name. It’s like wanting beauty to come alive, or a song to fill the room with color, or the wind to speak in words.
Impossible things, that somehow, deep inside, I know are truly possible.
I look out my window.
The clouds look like wings, and I feel covered, sheltered under His.
Oh, what comfort He can bring, this God who sings over us, who watches over us, always.
I close my eyes, and my heart begins to pray, and thanks begin to soar, to fly right up past those wing-shaped clouds, straight into the halls of heaven, to land soft as feathers at His feet – floating right into the throne room where the praise of angels does not cease.
The longing that aches to be filled?
We are constantly suspended between two worlds. The world of the flesh and the world of the spirit, and sometimes the tension can be so thick it's touchable. Sometimes my spirit wants to burst right through me, and tear right in, through the thin veil that separates.
How long, O Lord? I wonder. How long, until the eternity You placed in the heart of every man finds full reality? Until this heart that beats by You, and for You, beats fully in Your presence? Finally in the place where I can reach out and touch You and Your nail-pierced hand will reach out to gently hold mine.
Yes, this. This is the longing, the needing, the aching within.
One day, it will be.
But until then, I will seek and pray, and ponder and praise, and try to live out His plans for me in the here and now.
All the while, giving thanks for new places of vision,
often found in another cup of tea.
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For You are my
protection,
an impenetrable fortress from my enemies.
an impenetrable fortress from my enemies.
Let me live in Your sanctuary forever;
let me find safety in the shadow of Your wings.
let me find safety in the shadow of Your wings.
You have heard the
promises I made, O God.
You have laid upon me the legacy
You have laid upon me the legacy
due to those who fear
Your name.
~ Psalm 61:3-5 (VOICE)
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*********************************************************
New
places of vision give me inklings of the magnitude of my ignorance – of the
language, for instance, and of “things beyond our seeing, things beyond our
hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love
Him.” (1
Corinthians 2:9)
-
Elisabeth Elliot
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Linking up with Kelli and Jennifer and many other beautiful hearts over at Unforced Rhythms and @ #TellHisStory. Click on the links to share in these encouraging and inspiring communities.
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I identify with your longing, Julie, as well as with the warmth that comes when The Holy Spirit makes His way in. And I love your picture of Him filling our empty spaces, just like tea. Wish I could join you for a cup.
ReplyDeleteHi Beth! If we never get the chance to meet here for a cup of tea, I know we'll see each other at the banquet table someday, and won't we be smiling then?! Thanks for stopping by, friend. Sweetest blessings.
ReplyDeleteThe longing. Oh, how I get this, Julie. Something changed for me, though, when I realized that the longing itself is evidence of the More for which we are made. Somehow - in this simple realization - the longing became a friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this poignant post at Unforced Rhythms.
Oh, how I love that, Kelli! - the longing becoming a friend. That little gem will go in the treasure chest buried deep in my heart. Thank you for adding such beautiful insight.
DeleteThis is a perfect description of the sense of homesickness I feel in my own home, wanting to be with Jesus, in a crowd of believers who are my family forever. Beautiful post Julie!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michelle. Yes, that's it, isn't it? The homesickness. This world is not our home, but one glorious day, we will finally and forever, be right where we belong. For now though, it's so good to be sharing in the waiting with beautiful believers like you. Thanks for stopping by.
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