abide

So many blogs I read have a word for the new year.  Yesterday in church, I felt the Lord whisper in my spirit that my word for this year is abide. Learning to abide in Christ. To be constantly walking in his  presence...which I always am, but to actually be aware of his presence. I can too quickly be overwhelmed with chores, my never-ending "to do" list, children, my own selfishness, and just plain tiredness. So I am excited for what the Lord is going to teach me this year.
I had an "abide" experience just a few days ago. I was washing dishes and there was music playing in the background. I was listening to Phil Wickham's Singalong 2. I usually don't like live albums, but there is something about live praise and worship albums that make you feel as though you are there. And suddenly I could feel Him. The kids were all outside, playing, and I was standing in the kitchen, alone in my thoughts...I can't even remember what I was thinking about, but all the sudden the words broke through my muddled thoughts and HE was there. And the crazy thing is that He is always there, but I am not always aware....I am so thankful and humbled that He comes in the mundane..in the everyday...even in the washing of dishes. That's how much He desires our company, our friendship, our love. And as I stood at the sink washing dishes, I thought how He was washing my heart clean, refreshing my spirit, bringing healing, grace, and love. How He brings wholeness to a broken life and brings beauty from ashes....yet He comes without any fanfare while I am washing dishes...Who is this great God that He sent his Son from perfection to this worn out , weary world, selfish and self-absorbed with its own desires? And He not only sent him from perfection, but had the audacity to send him in the form of a helpless baby, born in a barn...smelling of hay and animals and all things smelly and dirty....just for me...and for you. Amazing love, amazing grace. And so in this new year of 2013, I want to learn how to be in his presence, to abide in Him. Not just when life is going great and I am feeling blessed, because the truth is, we are always being blessed, but are we aware of it? But also in the everyday, the routine, the what we consider "boring" or "non-inspired." May we all learn to ABIDE in the grace and love that our God lavishes upon us....Happy New Year!