Beyond Ourselves: Jane Larson
“The Beyond campaign is about meeting God.”
I heard those words and I thought I knew what they meant. It meant to pray, read His word, worship, sing, and fellowship with others, and in terms of the campaign give my dollars to grow His kingdom.
Through each of these activities my faith and understanding of who He is grows. But the campaign has pushed me to wrestle with what “meeting God” means.
A simple e-mail stating “I pray that you meet God” startled me – I realized I did not know what that simple phrase meant. I knew it meant more than what I was doing to grow in my faith. I knew it was not meeting with God on my time schedule nor with my prayer requests.
But what does it mean? I began to realize I was confusing “meeting with God” with “meeting God”. Through wrestling with these words and hearing others share I am beginning to understand what the phrase means.
Meeting God is about being with Him on His terms – listening to what He wants me to uncover in my life. He wants to reveal the baggage I carry around – those things that I hold onto that inhibit my full commitment to Him.
He wants to take away the fears, insecurities, and doubts that I have built up in my life – those areas that I hold close to me so others do not see. I am on this journey and learning from the experiences of others. I hear how they are “meeting God” and appreciate the courage it takes. I am in process of moving towards God to meet Him. I do not know all He will reveal nor what He will ask me to do.
Let’s continue to pray that each of us will “Meet God” in this season of the Beyond campaign.