'Everything' is a matter of perspective

This past week my running partner has been on vacation.  A crazy thing happens when she’s gone – I suddenly find that my motivation for running has…disappeared.  So I was pretty proud of myself this week when I got myself out there, pounding the pavement two whole times in the last 5 days. 

My second run was longer and provided me a while to think and talk with the Lord about my previous post.  In case you don’t feel like reviewing it, I expressed that I’m working to understand how, in a practical, day-to-day sort of way, God can be our everything.  We certainly know that He is more than sufficient to fulfill all of our needs but what does that really look like?  Anyways, this week I’ve been thinking more about that and thinking about what promises God has made that I can claim during this time.  What promises can I claim which will help me understand that (and live as though) God is my everything? 

Here are just a few of the promises God has given us:

He hears us (Ps. 34:4)

He is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9)

His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9)

He is our help in times of trouble or distress (Ps. 32:7)

He will complete the work He has started in us (Phil. 1:6)

There are countless others, but the one that gets me the most is that all-too-familiar verse in Jeremiah 29:11, “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  As I was running and thinking about this it occurred to me that God has fulfilled that promise in Christ Jesus, for no matter what happens in this life, our future hope is secure.  Our future has been purchased by Christ’s blood. 

As I wait for my husband to return to me and try to think about how I can let God be my everything, I’ve discovered that ‘everything’ is really a matter of perspective.  I have to let go of the ‘need’ for my needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.  I need to let God be everything.  It’s a choice.  I can either feel sad, empty, unsatisfied, impatient, and restless, or I can choose to let God’s promises be enough for me.  If my both my present and future are secure in Him, then I should be able to be content wherever I am.

Let’s take this beyond coffee…Maybe it’s not so important that I feel happy and content.  Maybe I don’t really need to replace the loneliness of my empty house or the penetrating silence of every single evening.  Maybe it’s almost too much to ask that I somehow not feel sad about being so long and far separated from my husband.  Because what really matters is that God is still in control.  He’s faithful.  He has not forgotten, left, or forsaken me.  He has secured my hope on high.  I need to let that be enough…or get out of my self-absorbed little hole and understand that it truly is enough.