God is All

Let not cares, riches, pleasures of this world, choke the heart, which was formed to contain the love of God. Pray, and all is thine. Thine is God Himself...E.B. Pusey

Recently I had a bit of a shaking, eye-opening, disappointing experience. A person that I thought I knew well turned out to be someone else alltogether. A circumstance that I thought would turn out for the best after some face time went the opposite. And, I was left very unsettled, confused, hurt and questioning plans and hopes for my future. What I thought was real wasn't. What I believed in my heart seemed a lie. What I believed about my future crumbled before my eyes. I had nothing and I didn't know what to do with that but feel stupid and deceived ... and then cry.

In that moment, fleeting though it was, knowing that God promised to never leave me nor forsake me felt like a consolation prize. Like, His love was somehow owed me because I didn't have anything else.

Again, I say (thankfully) that moment was fleeting...painful, but fleeting.

This painful, fleeting moment, however, was the only way for me to start walking towards a place where God is not just "all", He is ALL!

These aren't the same thing, ALL and all...at least not always.

First, we have the "all"...the disappointment or loss or pride-busting moment when that person, that job, that friend, that position, that security is taken away and the idea of ourselves or our life is gone. We have nothing...but God...but we still want what was lost. The choice in that moment is not so much where to go from there but how to go to God. Will we go to him bitter and angry that He is "all" we have now or will we take the humbling and see Him as ALL? Will we go to Him grateful that He is still there and will always be there and is all we will ever truly need? The choice in that moment will determine future happiness, to be sure, if not success.