NOW is the Time

Hosea 10:12

"I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love.

Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,

for now is the time to seek the LORD,

that he may come

and shower righteousness upon you.’"

I read this the other day and, ever since then, I've felt a constant pull to spend time praying or, moreso, to spend time LISTENING.

So I finally did.  Here is what I heard:

ARMS WIDE OPEN

Yes, it's an awesome Creed song... but it also describes God's constant, unchanging stance toward people.  ALL people. God loves us all so, so much. So here's my little story to go along with that.

Since I was in elementary school, I had a friend named Amber Pike.  I mean since I was really little. My mom and her mom were friends at church.  I remember us kids riding around in the backseat of her mom's car.  (that's what it looks like in my memory from that long ago... hehe... who knows...)

Her mom played music SO LOUD!! and I couldn't understand why.  I remember feeling the music thump through my back and through my whole, tiny body!  Looking back, it's probably because the lady was in her early 20's at the time and that's how people in their early 20's tend to listen to music in the car.  *grin* I also remember just staring at Amber's mom in the rearview mirror because I thought she was very, very pretty.  Well I mean... she was!  I was embarrassed when she'd look up and see me... but I did keep taking peeks every now and then.  Ahh, memories... LOL

Fast forward to 10th grade for me in high school.  My family had been out of church for a long time and my mom decided it was time for us to go back.  I hated it at first; I was very resistant and also scared down to my socks when I had to go to the church's very large youth group.   

But suddenly there was Amber!  It was like no time had passed between us.  Not that we had been CLOSE friends; but she was someone I knew; someone I remembered.  And she stuck right with me, helped me feel comfortable in this new setting, this new group of teenagers in whom I knew NO ONE but her.We weren't "best" friends, but we were GOOD friends.  We went to each other's houses, hung out, stuff like that. Those were good times in my life.

I don't remember every detail after my head-on collision, traumatic brain injury, coma, paralyzed on the right side of my body for a time, experience in October of my senior year of high school.  I know Amber was there; she's in pictures my mom took from when I was in the hospital and when I was recovering.

This is a real photo from that time in my life... my parents "borrowed" me out of the inpatient rehabilitation hospital so I could have a get-together with my friends at home... then I had to go back.  At least, I think that's when this was. L to R, that's me, JoAnna, Amber and Gabrielle. I miss my high school and youth group friends!

My memories after the accident are more of a slide show of still shots; not many movie scenes in motion.  So I don't remember much about the end of high school or how things changed between my friends and myself; you know, people finish high school and go their separate ways... I don't remember much about that.

I went to college at Southeastern where I faced my first "assault" (what my spiritual-vocabulary-laden self called it at the time) of strong attraction to a female... and my emotional life was that of a fish on the carpet, panting and wondering what it did wrong to have ended up out of the bowl... for the next, oh, 6 or 7 years.  

Fast forward more.  I was in my late 20's and had moved to Dallas, TX.  My mom called me.

Amber had been killed in a car accident with a drunk driver.  All the hopes and dreams, her writing talent, her forever crush on Steven Curtis Chapman... all the things that made her HER... gone.  In one moment.

I learned that Amber had a little boy from a relationship with some loser who left, and then had married a better man and had a second little boy.  

Her spirit lives on; I truly believe that- but she is physically gone.

My friend from childhood, who stood by me as I recovered from an automobile accident that had nearly taken my life, had now suffered her own and did not survive.  Her family was and, I'm certain, still is torn and bleeding from her loss. Two young guys, I think young teenagers by now, never got to know their mom.

So back to God's arms wide open.  I was thinking of Amber today and was struck with a strong sense of how delighted God must be to have her right there with Him.  He can hold her, hug her, smile into her eyes, and protect her from every bad thing that exists... because of this (keep reading)-

I saw, in my mind, God's wide-open arms, and from the center of those arms, from His heart, radiated a love so strong, so pure, so impenetrable... that it cannot be blocked or tainted.  Nothing can keep a person out of that love and nothing harmful can come inside it.

That is God's love for Amber.  

God's love is also the same for you, for me, for every soul God ever created.  Think on that for a moment.

Remember the verse from Hosea at the beginning of this blog entry.  Now is the time to seek the Lord. NOW... not later, not tomorrow, but right now.

I sought the Lord this morning, and look what I came away with!  I implore you to do the same. Nothing fancy is required; just be still for a moment and listen with your spiritual ears.

If listening for God's voice is not something you've done a lot of, I will tell you it takes practice.  Tell God you are there, listening. You will learn how to hear inside your spirit, become familiar with God's voice, and become familiar with the great feeling of peace that accompanies that voice.  

Seek the Lord now, because He has good things to give you!

Selah,

Nicole