good to be near God

At the start of this year, I received an e-mail from Ray challenging us all to read our Bibles and pray more. So, I challenged myself to read through the Bible this year. It hasn't taken too long to realize that there will be days that this will be more challenging than I first thought. But I have been blessed by the reading that I have done. Today I was reading Psalm 73 and when I reached the 28th verse....my memory cells clicked into gear. I had read this verse before. It holds a special meaning for me.....it's a special verse. "But as for me, it is good to be near God." This verse not only speaks to me, but it screams out to me. It is good to be near God!!!

When my daughter Kristen was in college, she decided to be a missionary in Mexico for a whole summer. This verse was the one she selected as a "go to" passage. She shared it with me before she left. She not only used this verse to prepare for the journey, but she would revisit it while in Mexico....and I would visit it as well. With Kristen in Mexico, away from her family, I (we) needed to be near God. During this time in our lives as a family, our daughter was being faithful to God's calling and He was growing her into becoming more of who He had created her to be. And, He was growing me. It became very evident that God had a plan for her, and He also was developing a plan for me. What?........I wasn't sure, but it would be His plan; not mine.

As a parent, we sometimes feel that we need to lead our children in a certain direction; give them specific goals for life; and try and make most of their decisions for them because "we have been there". That's our role....right? But God did a role reversal for me. He had decided to use my daughter to teach me. She would be "leading me"; helping me to see that God has a plan and a goal for me, because......He has been there. He used my daughter to show me that when it comes to His plans, if I would just trust Him and let Him lead and decide where He wants me to be, then He will mold me into what He wants me to be. All I have to do is "be near Him".

And I have learned over these past 4 1/2 years at HRCC that "it is good to be near God".