Happy February! As I put the finishing touches on this letter, I’m so thankful for the love that God has shown to me and so many others. From deep friendships to happy-tear soaked weddings to Christ’s death on the cross, we are so abundantly covered in love. I encourage you this month to press into Christ and His presence! 

It was so warm I had the window open. They say February is a winter month, but South Carolina disagreed for a week. It was night time, and the stillness was so real I could hear and feel it.

I leaned against the windowsill. A cool breeze pressed against my face and arms, the road outside silent in the absence of cars. It’s only like that late at night, and it’s my favorite. 

I stared around the tree branches obscuring part of the view in my window and studied the light shed by the streetlamp, savoring the silence and the touch of the wind. 

I took a breath. In a world rushing past where I’m always going somewhere or doing something, those moments are exquisite. I felt homesick for a place I’d never been. There was in my chest a longing for some deeper rest of which I have only reached the surface. I sensed a presence touching my heart, reminding me He is there, waiting to be known. 

Eventually, I slid the window down, pulled the curtains shut, and went to bed. But that feeling didn’t go away. 

He stills the storm and calms the waves. And he teaches my heart to slow down and be still.  

I’m leading a book study on The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer right now. Oh my goodness. I could rant about this book and how wonderful it is for the rest of my life! It has been such a blessing to dig deep into the reading, think about it, and form thoughtful questions I can ask to help the other women in the study think it through. 

Last week, we read a chapter called “Removing the Veil.” In it, Tozer argues that in Christ, we are now able to enter the Holy of Holies and stand in the very presence of God. Jesus has washed us clean of our sin by His blood and given us the opportunity to know God in a way unavailable to ancient Israel. But there is a problem. Tozer writes, “We sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle” (53).

How heartbreaking! How true. In a bone-chillingly pointed summary of our times, he proclaims, “The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the Church is famishing for want of His presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and He is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged” (48). 

The world hungers for Him. The church hungers for Him. My heart hungers for Him. And He is right there, waiting for us to draw near to Him. Jeremiah 29:13-14 gives this promise. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.” He promises to answer our earnest seeking. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you,” as James 4:8 says. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to die waiting outside of the Holy of Holies. I don’t want to die believing in a God I don’t also know. According to Tozer, it isn’t as hard as one might expect. The “veil” he refers to is sin. Surrender that sin to the Lord, and you will know Him deeply. “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,” as Matthew 16:25 states. 

I want to pursue Him with all of my heart, with all that is in me. Even if it means uprooting my very self so I may know the One who gave Himself for me. 

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save…” Zephaniah 3:17