Whilst, in most homes around the world at four o'clock in the morning, the average person was sleeping, my mother was wide awake and could be found either deep in prayer, reading her bible or scribbling away in her journal under a tiny book light.
Even when I left for college, I often woke up to deep spiritual messages or hyperlinks to sermons on YouTube, all of which had been sent at some point between the hours of three and five o'clock that morning.
What always amused me was the fact that she never set an alarm for these early morning meetings, yet she hardly ever missed one. She told me that it was always the Holy Spirit who nudged her to get up and pray, and surely enough she received some kind of direction from God.
I thought that this was beautiful, yet the idea of waking up even fifteen minutes before my alarm clock was due to go off was as bad as any sin in my eyes. Yet I longed for this same intimacy that she had with a God who felt more like a distant, but pretty nice uncle to me.
The Nudge
In my later years, as my relationship with God strengthened, I too began to feel that beckoning to come spend time with Him. Though it had never come at 4a.m., it often happened while I was sitting in front of the television or just lazing around. At first I thought that it was my personal guilt about wasting time, but I began to realise that every time I heeded the call and went to pray or read my Bible, my spirit felt at peace.
Sometimes I would get the urge to pray for someone or about something, other times I would stumble upon a Bible verse that spoke directly to me or a situation that was happening around me. Then there were the less profound times, which in retrospect I believe that God simply wanted to hear from me.
How much does He actually care?
Many Christians around the world, like my mother, often get negative feedback when they communicate that somehow the God of the universe talks to them. Not just gives them profound instructions through his word, but is in conversation with them on a daily basis and cares about even the most trivial aspects of their lives.
My first taste of this very sweet and friendly side of God was in my first year of University. I had decided to attend the weekly Christian Fellowship meeting on campus, during which a young ladytold a story about something that had happened to her only a few hours earlier.
She said that she was sitting on a bench admiring the surrounding nature, when God simply told her that she was beautiful. As she told the story she blushed and bubbled with excitement and I could not help but to smile as well, even though deep down I wondered why I had never experienced anything of the sort. The fact that something like that could happen did not seem impossible to me, just a little out of character for theGod that I knew.
Right down to the Last Detail
The book of James chapter 5 verse 11, in the message Bible, says that God cares right down to the last detail. This was something that I was sure of, as much as I was sure that someone landed on the moon. I also could not help but to think about the conversations that I had had with agnostic friends who explained why they did not consider God to be their friend.
The Pressing Question
For a long time, I wondered why people's experiences with God were so different. The God that my mother woke up at 4am. to talk to and the God that made this young lady blush with so much excitement was surely the same. Yet this was not the God that myself or many others knew. That was, until about one year later when the answer to this question became clear to me.
The Answer
It was simply that we live in expectation that if God is who He says He is, then He should bail us out in times of trouble, grant us what we ask for and give us a sign when we ask forrevelation. Yet we fail to realise the bigger picture, which is, that He already did His part by sending His son to die on the cross for our sins.
Now, it is our turn to give our lives back to Him. This does not simply refer to the initial step of welcoming Him into our lives, but to what we do afterwards. That is,making Him our number one priority andhaving faith in Him. Ergo, doing our part in the relationship. This was what my mother and the blushing girl had in common, they did their part in the relationship and so they had a higher level of intimacy with Him.
"Sometimes the answer is right in front of you." - Unknown
Many preachers and teachers often compare marriage to our relationship with God and vice versa. Yet of all the times that I have heard such sermons and analysed the lives of truly mature Christians, it baffles me that I never realised that by not doing my part, the relationship would be doomed to stagnancy and ultimately failure.
"He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Christ."
- Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9
Danielle Jones was born on the beautiful island of Barbados to phenomenal parents. She currently works as an English Language teaching assistant at La Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander in the city of Cúcuta, Colombia. She hopes to be fluent in Spanish very soon, as well as to be an example of the love of Christ wherever she goes.
Danielle Jones' previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/danielle-jones.html