For vs. At

Credit to Angiesmithonline.com 

Daily Gratitude Year 4-Day 165: Today...I am grateful for vision adjustments that help us move from looking for God, to looking at him. 

One of the most life changing discoveries I have ever encountered is the power of perspective. Never underestimate the power of... not what you see...but how you see any situation. Our interpretation of any event is far more powerful than the event itself. 

Don't laugh, but Jimmy Buffet was one of my first real teachers in this. "Changes in attitude. Changes in lattitude. If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."

Remember that song? It really is a catchy tune.  The man is chasing good times, but there is a point in song where his his heart cries out "God, I wish I was sailin' again." In the midst of the parties, the rich life, the fast lane of life and the neon lights...it is sailing on the ocean where he sensed a peace and a stillness. It is hard to take to the ocean and not see, feel and encounter God. 

I have sailed the open ocean...in a 42 foot sailboat...and I can assure you that there is a sense of awe... and real sense of God in the vastness of his ocean around you. At the mercy of the wind and surrounded by waves. Our small boat and crew of six seemed so minuscule in the endless horizon of the open seas. It was a big adventure for a "safety girl". I learned a little about perspective and God's nearness in what felt like dangerous waters. Check out today's image:

"Stop looking for me, love. Look at me." - Angie Smith

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:13 

Angie Smith  (find her at angiesmithonline.com) posted today's image from her study "Chasing God". It is a clear "vision adjustment". The world is full of Satan's lie that joy is found in stuff. It is so easy to get caught up in the fast pace of life and loose the precious moments that matter. We can inadvertently miss what is important. 

We can spend a lifetime...to borrow from a country classic..."looking for love in all the wrong places". Now, do the little switcheroo of replacing the word "love" for "God". Why?  Because:

 "God is love." -1 John 4:8   

Now try it out. "Looking for God in all the wrong places." 

How many days have I wasted looking "for Him" instead of "at Him"? He is not missing in action. He can be seen in his Word and known by his Holy Spirit. Prayer is a constant and open conversation. We can talk to him at the stoplight...in the slow grocery line and in the laundry room. He is with us, for us and always present. 

Fair warning. When you do this...look at Him and not just for him... He will speak. He will move. He will show you His glory. His glory is fierce and beautiful. Frightening and fabulous. All at the same time. Another lie of the enemy is that life in Christ is boring. 

My SIL Jennifer shared a great story with me over the weekend. She told of God doing just that very thing in a friend's life. She started looking "at him" and it shifted her perspective. We were both so engrossed in the story that we sat right through a green arrow in traffic. No one behind us even honked...so God protected the moment. This is a story still in progress and on my prayer list.   

When we stop looking for him and start looking at him...we can concentrate on his face, his eyes and his heart. I have added a line from a song to my prayers. 

"Beak my heart for what breaks yours".  It is a vision adjustment. 

Today...I am grateful for vision adjustments that help us move from looking for God, to looking at him.