Looking Back to the Present

God is with me. He has always been there and always will be but I can experience Him only in the present moment, in the now. Looking back helps us to focus on the now, not to live in the past but to nourish us in the midst of the moment.

I was baptized at age 8 but really began my relationship with God 4 years later when I had an experience that shaped the rest of my life. I was walking back to my Aunt’s house after attending a summer conference for Christian teens. I had been feeling especially close to God all during the conference after doing a lot of soul searching for several weeks. As I walked along in the dark under a star filled sky I could not help but feel the presence of God in the grand creation around me. As I looked up into the stars I seemed to see the figure of a man’s head in the stars and a presence within me affirming my relationship with a living God who is always with me. One moment it was there and the next it was gone, but the presence remains with me always, whether I am paying attention or not.

God with me, not me with God, for sometimes I wander here and yon, but that living presence remains. Like all relationships it is ever changing but it is I who move toward or away from that relationship not God who moves. He is present in the now, in each moment as I move through life. Looking back to my first realization of that relationship lifts me up to meet all that comes my way by the strength and power he pours into me, moment by moment. Life in the now is life in relationship with Him who created us.

Today I can handle all problems that arise. God gives me what I need to handle each moment as it comes my way. I will listen to that inner voice that reassures me and leads me in the right direction. God will reveal to me what I need as the need arises, in the now.