{"id":1857,"date":"2012-02-17T22:05:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T05:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/?p=1857"},"modified":"2024-07-20T10:17:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T16:17:42","slug":"god-gives-good-hugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/god-gives-good-hugs","title":{"rendered":"God gives good hugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last couple of years I\u2019ve been learning that God delights when we come to him with expectation and anticipation.\u00a0 I think our tendency is to come to God with a shallow hope, like a peasant coming to a king hoping the king will grant his request.\u00a0 But the reality is God is our abba (daddy), who loves to bless his children in ways that works out for our best interests.\u00a0 When we pray from a position of faith and expectation, when we pray from a position of joy in what God is going to do<\/em>, it is<\/em> his very nature<\/em> to respond with love and joy.\u00a0 And when you come face to face with the living God, we should expect amazing things to happen.<\/p>\n

I went to Prayer and Praise tonight with high expectation; I was looking for joy and peace.\u00a0 There is currently a potential for big changes to occur within our family (related to foster care), and although I feel I clearly know what God would have us do in this situation, I wasn\u2019t feeling any joy in it and that was messing with my peace.<\/p>\n

God met me exactly where I was.\u00a0 There have only been a few times in my life when I can say I felt the manifest presence of God to the point of physical stimulation.\u00a0 I count myself blessed for those moments.\u00a0 The first one occurred when I was struggling with my faith.\u00a0 At a time when I was ready to turn my back on God completely, God simply put his hand on my back.\u00a0 In that simple touch I received tremendous peace, and although I had already been confirmed, this was the day I received Christ.\u00a0 My life turned at that moment.<\/p>\n

Tonight I was seeking God.\u00a0 The circumstances are entirely different, but I was seeking that touch of peace that I had felt before.\u00a0 If you seek, you will find.<\/p>\n

Tonight it felt like God wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big hug, the same kind of hug that I love to give to my children when you squeeze them to the point of contorting their bodies just a little bit.\u00a0 I felt God\u2019s touch.\u00a0 It\u2019s not quite the same as a physical touch, though I have heard some people give testimony that they felt a physical touch when nobody was there.\u00a0 But it was a spiritual touch that crosses over into the physical ever so slightly.\u00a0 I could feel the position of his arms, and the nuzzling of his head against my mine, and goose bumps all over.\u00a0 It was what I was looking for.<\/p>\n

Then God told me this: \u201cWhat you\u2019re feeling right now, this is what I want you to do for my children.\u00a0 Embrace them, hold them.\u00a0 Show them how much I love them.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about anything, I\u2019ll take care of the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

There you go.\u00a0 Confirmation.\u00a0 Peace, but not a passive kind of peace that allows you to sit on your fanny.\u00a0 Joy that I can take rest in the fact that God promises me that he\u2019d worry about the details and provide everything we need.<\/p>\n

Okay God, I\u2019m in.\u00a0 Your will be done.\u00a0 I love you too,
\nNate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last couple of years I\u2019ve been learning that God delights when we come to him with expectation and anticipation.\u00a0 I think our tendency is to come to God with a shallow hope, like a peasant coming to a king hoping the king will grant his request.\u00a0 But the reality is God is our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,6,14],"tags":[20,1872,122],"class_list":["post-1857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-family","category-foster-care","tag-god","tag-hug","tag-peace","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-6-id","wpcat-14-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p504YJ-tX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5837,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2006\/11\/thanksgiving-verses","url_meta":{"origin":1857,"position":0},"title":"Thanksgiving Verses","author":"Becca","date":"November 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Psalm 95:1-2 \"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.\" 1 Corinthians 1:4 \"I always thank God for you because of the grace given you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/psalm-95-1-2.jpg?fit=863%2C562&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/psalm-95-1-2.jpg?fit=863%2C562&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/psalm-95-1-2.jpg?fit=863%2C562&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/psalm-95-1-2.jpg?fit=863%2C562&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2011\/01\/living-on-the-edge","url_meta":{"origin":1857,"position":1},"title":"Living on the edge?","author":"Nate","date":"January 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been reading Bill Johnson's \"When Heaven Invades Earth\", which is a great book about the power the Holy Spirit makes available to Christians for the purpose of revealing God's nature and love to the world.\u00a0 One paragraph struck me, challenges me to look at my life, faith,\u00a0and my priorities.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/faith"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19866,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/god-daughter-2","url_meta":{"origin":1857,"position":2},"title":"God Daughter","author":"Becca","date":"March 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy baptismal anniversary to our god daughter Kayne! 15 years ago we promised to pray for you.","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/kayne.png?fit=750%2C938&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/kayne.png?fit=750%2C938&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/kayne.png?fit=750%2C938&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/kayne.png?fit=750%2C938&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14242,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/first-church","url_meta":{"origin":1857,"position":3},"title":"First Church","author":"Becca","date":"March 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sister got to come to church with us this morning and really had fun in her classes. 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