Reflecting on Blessings
By Sarah Van Diest
“True beauty must be able to engage the dark desolations of pain; perhaps it is on this frontier that its finest light appears?” John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace
There is so much I could write on today. I could write on being home after a trip to visit our son in Italy. I could write about Christmas just around the corner. I could write about one of our five sons who turns 18 in a few days, entering adulthood. I could write about freedom and life juxtaposed with law and death as depicted in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Seriously. There is so much I could write about. Friendship and love. Hope in sorrow. God’s faithfulness. Thankfulness. Wisdom. Passion. Forgiveness. Grace.
How do we choose, dear ones, what to write on when our hearts are full? How can we select one blessing over another and proclaim it to be superior simply by the act of choosing it? How do we not, when our hearts run over, spend our entire day with our eyes heavenward praising our Father? Or maybe we do just that.
And how do we define blessing? If I say I am choosing between what blessings to write on, what constitutes such a thing?
I believe this to be my life question. It comes up from a deep well with or without my permission. It is the question that is marked on me. It may not always be phrased the same way, in fact it rarely is, but the heart of it remains steadfast. The heart of this question is, “Where is God?”
You may not readily see how these two questions are, to me, synonymous, so let me shed light on it. It is easy for us to see God in the good things in life. When miracles happen or prayers are answered, we see God clearly. But when miracles fail to occur or when prayers are answered converse to what we had desired, do we see Him so easily, so clearly? When evil rages into our lives and destroys, do we see Him? Is He there?
I do not think I am unique in being marked with this question. I believe every soul is. Our spirits cry out for Him because we were made to find Him. We search for Him in the todays, yesterdays and tomorrows of life because knowing Him is the central aspect of our beings. “Where are You?” is the great cry of humanity up to the heavens and out into the depths of the universe.
And if we have ears to hear, the answer thunders back, “I am.”
In all things, my gentle reader, the great I amis to be found. I am not espousing any particular doctrine, only what I understand as truth. There is no time or place possible outside of the Father.
In this then can we not take confidence? In the eternal nature of His presence can we not take comfort? Can we not look then at all things as blessings because all things point us to Him? What greater joy could there be than to find Him and know Him?
I could write today about many things, but the purpose of each is the same. Every story, every thought, every breath, heartbeat and heartache leads to Him. That is life. Yesterday. Tomorrow. Today. And it is good.
“…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” Acts 17:26, 27.
TWEETABLE
Reflecting on Our Blessings - via Sarah Van Diest (Click to Tweet)
Sarah has worked in Christian publishing since 2005 as both and editor and an agent.
Currently, she works with her husband, David, in their agency, the Van Diest Literary Agency. Writing is a growing passion for her as she hopes to bring hope to hurting hearts.
“True beauty must be able to engage the dark desolations of pain; perhaps it is on this frontier that its finest light appears?” John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible EmbraceThere is so much I could write on today. I could write on being home after a trip to visit our son in Italy. I could write about Christmas just around the corner. I could write about one of our five sons who turns 18 in a few days, entering adulthood. I could write about freedom and life juxtaposed with law and death as depicted in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Seriously. There is so much I could write about. Friendship and love. Hope in sorrow. God’s faithfulness. Thankfulness. Wisdom. Passion. Forgiveness. Grace.
How do we choose, dear ones, what to write on when our hearts are full? How can we select one blessing over another and proclaim it to be superior simply by the act of choosing it? How do we not, when our hearts run over, spend our entire day with our eyes heavenward praising our Father? Or maybe we do just that.
And how do we define blessing? If I say I am choosing between what blessings to write on, what constitutes such a thing? I believe this to be my life question. It comes up from a deep well with or without my permission. It is the question that is marked on me. It may not always be phrased the same way, in fact it rarely is, but the heart of it remains steadfast. The heart of this question is, “Where is God?”
You may not readily see how these two questions are, to me, synonymous, so let me shed light on it. It is easy for us to see God in the good things in life. When miracles happen or prayers are answered, we see God clearly. But when miracles fail to occur or when prayers are answered converse to what we had desired, do we see Him so easily, so clearly? When evil rages into our lives and destroys, do we see Him? Is He there?
I do not think I am unique in being marked with this question. I believe every soul is. Our spirits cry out for Him because we were made to find Him. We search for Him in the todays, yesterdays and tomorrows of life because knowing Him is the central aspect of our beings. “Where are You?” is the great cry of humanity up to the heavens and out into the depths of the universe.
And if we have ears to hear, the answer thunders back, “I am.”
In all things, my gentle reader, the great I amis to be found. I am not espousing any particular doctrine, only what I understand as truth. There is no time or place possible outside of the Father. In this then can we not take confidence? In the eternal nature of His presence can we not take comfort? Can we not look then at all things as blessings because all things point us to Him? What greater joy could there be than to find Him and know Him?
I could write today about many things, but the purpose of each is the same. Every story, every thought, every breath, heartbeat and heartache leads to Him. That is life. Yesterday. Tomorrow. Today. And it is good.
“…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” Acts 17:26, 27.
TWEETABLE
Reflecting on Our Blessings - via Sarah Van Diest (Click to Tweet)
Sarah has worked in Christian publishing since 2005 as both and editor and an agent. Currently, she works with her husband, David, in their agency, the Van Diest Literary Agency. Writing is a growing passion for her as she hopes to bring hope to hurting hearts.
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