Encounter

So, I kind of like to follow photography blogs…ok…I LOVE to follow photography blogs, particularly those of people in RVA and/or Virginia. There is just so much creativity here! A few of my favorites:

Tim Yantz Photography (ok this one is not actually a blog, but this guy…who also happens to be a good friend of ours…is AMAZING).

Katelyn James Photography (she has done two of my friends’ weddings…and she is insane).

and Sharon Elizabeth Photography (but don’t go there quite yet…wait! This gets good). 😉

Amazing. So much talent. So much creativity. So much heart!

Lately, I’ve been particularly interested in Sharon Elizabeth’s blog, because she writes about her personal life as well as her photography. (Look, blogging about your own life is not that unusual. We used to read people’s own stories about their lives all the time in school and then write papers on them…they were called “autobiographies” back then). 🙂

Anyway, I wanted to share her post from today because it made me cry, and reminded me of the tenderness of my Father God. For several months I have been reading her ongoing story about something deeply personal that has tested a lot of things in her life, namely her faith in God.

Sherrie Moore (my pastor/friend/mentor/family) said something recently that I thought was so true, and so freeing–she said: how can you believe in a God that you have not had an encounter with? What would make you believe, let alone love and trust Him? She followed that up by saying that that is how He works: He encounters us, and draws us into trusting, knowing, loving Him, based on our experience with Him. He doesn’t just tell us, “just trust Jesus” and then leave us all alone to “just trust Jesus” with no evidence of His hand moving in our lives. He backs up His word with works…actions…testimonies all around us…and in our own lives.

Back to Sharon Elizabeth’s blog–for the past few months, she and her husband have been walking thru what I think has to be one of the toughest things to face. In December, she not only found out that at 2 months along in her pregnancy, she had miscarried, but that she also had a very large tumor (you can read about it here). Devastation upon devastation. I seriously cannot imagine what that felt like to hear. As I read that entry, I prayed that God would heal her…not only physically but also from the hurt that she was walking thru.

Tonight, I got a text from my best friendy friend, Emily telling me to go read Sharon Elizabeth’s blog she posted today. I read it to myself….and then I read it outloud to my husband…and as I read it aloud I could not keep myself from crying. But this time it was because I was overwhelmed by her testimony of encounter with God. (Read the entry in her own words here).

You’ve gotta go read it. It’s seriously so beautiful. He is so so good. Not only has He spoken to her thru dreams…given to two different people and yet the details line up perfectly…and used them to restore hope to her heart about being a mother…but He HEALED her…physically. The doctor found no tumor in her visit yesterday.

See…THIS is who He is. He doesn’t just heal. He is HEALER. He name is healer because it is WHO He is…literally. He is God of Encounter…the Encounterer…because He is Encounter!! He is Living Word, because He speaks and IS!

I loved so much reading Sharon Elizabeth’s testimony on her blog tonight because I am being given the privilege to watch as God encounters another person’s heart and life, and give her a reason to trust Him.

Sherrie (pastorfriendmentorfamily!) also said recently that if you feel as if you don’t have any reason to believe God even exists…then you are in one of the best positions you could possibly be in–because you are setting yourself up for an encounter with Him. It’s a cry of the heart to see Him and be shown who He is, on personal terms…something HE desires so deeply.

–Jamie