In the midst of this world, there is God. Omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and always at work. As I lay here in the hotel room, stressing over my Honors presentation in the morning, I find peace in Acts 2:25-28.
“I see that the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me.
No wonder my heart is glad,
And my tongue shouts His praises!
My body rests in hope,
For You will not leave my soul among the dead,
Or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
You have shown me the way of life,
And you will fill me with the joy of Your presence.”
You see, this weekend is completely out of my comfort zone. I’m away from the people I’m closest to, I’m in a strange city, and tomorrow I will get up in front of a large audience and present my topic for fifteen minutes.
Totally. Uncomfortable.
At the same time, I have peace. Why? Because I feel His presence here with me, I feel Him at work at this conference and this city. Poems written by others about the wonder of His majestic works, what heaven will be like, and a speaker who tells of something the city is doing called the “Isaiah 61 project,” biblically based and training people out of work in different skills-mending the brokenhearted.
I have peace, in this place far from home and familiarity, far from what I’m comfortable with, because He is with me, and He is at work in this place; both the city and this conference. Not only that, but I have joy. Joy because I am in His presence. We are always in the presence of God, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
I graduate from college a year from now. And a year from now, my life is going to change. Big time. There’s a possibility, or probability, rather, that I’ll find myself away from most of the people I’m closest to, in a strange place, and doing something out of my comfort zone.
But this is when we need His peace the most. God doesn’t call us to stay in our nice, comfortable places, but to be willing to lay all of that down for Him. To take up our cross (and not ten suitcases) and go where He calls us- which will be in places we may not feel comfortable, places where we feel like tourists trying to find our way around.
With that peace, I am and will be filled with joy, and everlasting joy that ignites every time I look at the stars, every time I am reminded by what great family I have, every time I reflect on how He has blessed me, every time I remember what He has taught me.
Y’all. This is our God. I could spend days on end talking about how incredible He is, how creative and how gracious. The same God who takes care of my pre-presentation nerves is the same God who created the heavens, the earth, everything in between, and made it work so beautifully that people cannot fully grasp just how it all works flawlessly. As beautiful as words are, they can’t even begin to explain the wonders He orchestrated. THAT is our God.
In this uncomfortable place, I will not be shaken. I will shout praises with my tongue, for He is at work- always- and He will show me the way of life.
So here I am- tired, nervous, and stressed- but praying on Acts 2:25-28.
And I am filled with the joy of His presence here at this conference, praising His glorious name, my body resting in hope, knowing He will not leave me, never being shaken because He is omnipresent.
He is in the midst of us.