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Today many Americans are realizing that something is missing in their lives. As they examine their lives they may be puzzled for they find there everything that should make a person happy and contented. But there seems to be a restlessness, an emptiness that cannot be filled no matter how hard one might try. Some individuals try everything they can think of--drugs, alcohol, having an affair, divorce, remarriage, working longer and longer hours, etc. Finally in desperation they turn to God. If you find yourself in this situation, you can save yourself a lot of pain and heartache by choosing to relate to God before you hit bottom.

C.S. Lewis, Alec Guinness, and Millard Fuller are fascinating examples of the way God touches an individual through the incidents in that person's life.

C.S. Lewis (click here)

Alec Guinness (click here)

Millard Fuller (click here)

God is also touching your life in countless ways. Since each person is unique, only you can discover how God is touching you. How is God touching your life today?

Relationship with God

To understand our relationship with God, we need to reflect on the meaning of relationships. Human persons can form relationships with one another because there is some common bond, their humanity. Theoretically, our human nature is enough of a bond to form a relationship with an other person. Our experience, however, shows us that there are so many possibilities for relationships in a person's life that we unconsciously seek out persons with more commoon elements, such as age, education, interests, easy availability, similar background, etc. We become friends and the more we share, the deeper the relationship becomes.

How does all this apply to our relationship with God? How can there ever be some common element between the limited human self and God? In fact, a relationship with God would be impossible if God had not created us in the divine image. Because we are created in the image of God, there is something about each of us that is God-like. This God-like quality is the ground of our relationship with God.

Terry Anderson formed several interesting relationships before he realized how God was touching his life.

Terry Anderson (click here)

God's Initiative

God intervenes in a special way in our lives providing us with opportunities to grow in our relationship and become involved in the overall plan of God to bring all creation to completion in Christ.

The lives of Bill Murray and Clare Boothe Luce are a striking example of the way God intervenes in a person's life and the changes that can occur when the individual responds postively to God's touches.

Bill Murray (click here)

Clare Boothe Luce (click here)

Ordinarily, God's touches are not earth shaking events but very gentle urges. Since God is infinitely creative and each individual is unique, there are unlimited ways God might touch us. For example, God might touch a person by a word from a friend, the smile of a child, a sentence in a book, a TV show or even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

You are a unique person, so you alone can know the way God is touching you. A quiet heart is necessary to recognize God's initiatives. Take some time and reflect on the way God has touched you recently. How have you responded to these initiatives? Each evening spend some time to quiet your heart and see how God and you have related during the day. You will find this a very rewarding time.

RESPONSE

Before we can respond to God's initiatives, we need to recognize how God is touching our lives. Each evening before retiring one might sit quietly and review the events of the day. What people did you meet today? Was there anything significant or unusual about these contacts? Were you touched in any way by something that was said? Was God telling you something through any of these contacts?

What about the activities of the day--your work, your commute to and from work, your leisure time after work? Are you aware of the way God entered into these times?

Pick out one or two instances when you believe God was moving in your life. How do you want to respond to God?

God's initiatives are so individual and varied that they call for many different kinds of responses. Some may require some action on your part, such as changing a negative pattern of acting. For example, you may realize that God is calling you to be more considerate of your co-workers.

As you look at your day, you may realize that you have received many gifts or blessings during the day. An appropriate response is to thank the Giver of all good gifts.

James Thompson (click here)

PRAYER

SEEDTIME OF PEACE: A LIVING ROOM RETREAT

SPIRITULITY FOR WOMEN

MUSTARD SEED PROCESS

RESTLESS HEARTS

VOICES OF HOPE

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Spiritual Direction available.