YA: Present

There are times in life when you just have to make up new words.

Have you ever sat in a moment when a word just popped out because your brain couldn't find any other way to describe something. Sometimes our brains intrinsically know what we do not... we can make stuff up.

There are a lot of things about God I don't think we have words for yet. There is so much about His height, His depth, His breadth, His abilities, His mercy, His justice, His love, His everything we can not begin to describe as mere human beings typing away on our computers, or chatting away to a friend, or even speaking to a crowd of people. We need to be honest that while we intimately know Him through Jesus, we can't grasp Him in our hearts and minds, much less grasp Him with our tongue. 

And still, He chooses to be with me. He sits with me, talks with me, eats with me, laughs with me, and cries with me. If I made a list of the withs of God, it would go on and on and off this page. Instead of trying to contain God, I made up a word:

Withness

The withness of God in our lives will never pass spell check.

The withness addresses how big and wide He is while still completely and utterly present He is with me, with you, with this whole big, wide world.

The withness of God says He is for me, not against me. 

The withness of God says He sees me.

The withness of God says He is my refuge, my strength, my very present help.

On today's podcast, join me in embracing terrible English, but wide open spirits, nodding at God's withness and thanking Him for simply being there on the days which are bleak, the days that are better, and the days that are best.