How Do I Know God, You Ask?
In the past I have had people ask me how I know God. Some asked out of genuinely wanting to experience God in their own life but others asked in a more judgmental almost condemning way as if for some reason I don’t deserve to know Him. In either case, it was hard to explain. I had an experience years ago when I heard God’s voice. Some disputed that, said it could have just as easily been the devil talking to me. Yet others said, no doubt it was the Lord who I heard. Nevertheless, those were just other people’s opinion which did not stop me from continuing to seek the truth and learn to put how I know God into words. After all these years I have found the words. I know God because I know Jesus. I know Jesus because I know what it feels like to be abandoned by the ones I love and trust. I know Jesus because I have been stolen from, lied to, slandered about, betrayed, and rejected by someone I gave my heart to. It was through those experiences that I felt the deepest pain I believe a person can feel. The feeling when you believe you are truly going to die from a broken heart. But it was in those moments I felt the warm embrace of Jesus’s unconditional love. An embrace that said, Jody, I have felt this same pain. I understand you. I felt Jesus cry with me as I anguished over my life and then recalled his life. His life of betrayal, condemnation, being lied to, stolen from, abandon, rejected, and judged. I bonded to Jesus through these devastating journeys in my life. He had already walked that mile but circled back to carry me through it. He is the one who loves me the most, understands me the deepest and provides my security. It is with this knowledge that I rest knowing that there is nothing of this world or in this world that can harm me. Let the world do what it will do. Let the world say what it will say. I am nowhere near a perfect person. I was given a thorn in my side. I have pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me but he said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” I am free because Jesus has endured unspeakably worse things than I have and then took judgement in my place. How do I know God you ask; He knitted me together in my mother’s womb. He started by weaving together my heart with love, knowing every detail of my life. Knowing everything I would ever think, do or say and even knowing all these things, He placed Jesus in this heart and that is how I know God.