Thought for today - 07/30/2013

AN INDESCRIBABLE CONNECTION WITH GOD
"I have a friend who went through deep waters several years ago. He described the weeks and months that followed as the darkest days of his life. Feeling as though he was drowning in depression and grief, he sought the Lord with a desperation beyond anything he had ever experienced. As a result, he learned a new way to pray in those days -- on his face on the living room carpet, arms outstretched, as dependent as a little child.

"Looking back on those days, my friend recalls how narrow his world had become, with the suffocating darkness pressing in from all sides. His Bible became as thin as a half dozen of his favorite psalms. But he also remembers an indescribable connection with God, as if a larger channel had been opened between them. It resulted in a new sense of God's presence and an ability to discern His voice. His new standard for prayer was his nose buried in the carpet fibers, his arms out in front of him, palms up. He learned that the lower he placed himself before God, the more he expressed his utter dependence on the Lord for everything, the sooner God's miraculous work of healing and restoration began in his life.

"Hard-pressed and hedged in? Just remember that where the Spirit of the Lord is ... wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And hope. And light. And even beauty."
- Joni Eareckson Tada in A Lifetime of Wisdom: Embracing the Way God Heals You