“Lord, I passionately love you and I’m bonded to you. I want to embrace you, for now you’ve become my power! You’re as real to me as bedrock beneath my feet, like a castle on a cliff, my forever firm fortress, my mountain of hiding, my pathway of escape, my tower of rescue where none can reach me. My secret strength and shield around me, you are salvation’s ray of brightness shining on the hillside, always the champion of my cause. All I need to do is to call to you, singing to you, the praiseworthy God. When I do, I’m safe and sound in you.” ~ Psalm 18: 1-3 TPT
I grew up in a Christian home and I have an amazing family and I couldn’t dream of having more amazing parents. They have continually shown me Jesus by the way they live their lives and the way they love me unconditionally. But Jesus has never become more real to me than He has this past year and a half.
He’s always been as real, and I’d like to say I’ve always believed He was as real, but in this season I’ve seen Him and felt Him like I never had quite before. He has become “as real to me as bedrock beneath my feet”.
A few months ago it was a Friday night (the night it feels like you should always have plans) and I didn’t have any! I had just dropped my friend off somewhere and I was driving back to the house. On my way home I could feel my heart begin to feel disappointed. Not because I didn’t have plans, but because when it gets quiet the enemy usually hits me with the “What are you doing with your life?” question. And if I let it that thought only produces more fear questions… all questions that take God and His faithfulness out of the equation. Because the enemy never reminds us of who Jesus is or our identity as a son or daughter.
So driving home, I had a choice to make. I can either allow the enemy to have this night and have my thoughts, and I can be disappointed…OR, I can set my eyes, my heart, and my emotions on Jesus and I can enjoy a quiet night with Him.
Thankfully I chose Him, because that Friday became my favorite Friday of all Fridays thus far.
When I got home I cooked dinner for myself, turned on some worship music, and sat down at the table. I thought to myself “I’m just gonna have dinner with Jesus”… but what I didn’t realize is that this was about to be the most satisfying meal I’d ever had.
After I sat down I realized I forgot to get myself something to drink. So I got up and got myself a glass of water. When I sat the glass of water down, I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Laney, would you get me a glass of water too?”
This might sound a little crazy to you, and It definitely crossed my mind what my roommates would think if they walked in and saw me sitting at the table by myself and two glasses of water, but I did it anyway! Getting my Savior a glass of water brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t quite contain what my heart was feeling and I had never felt so loved by serving someone a glass of water before.
After I did this, again I went to sit down and before my bottom even hit the chair I heard “would you make me a plate too?”
By this point you might think I’m delusional because maybe you’ve never heard Jesus say something to you quite like this… but something I’ve learned is that it’s not that He’s not speaking, it’s just that sometimes we don’t allow ourselves and our lives to get quiet and still enough to hear Him. Anyways, back to what I was saying! So I got up and made Him a plate. I sat it across from me and began listening and talking to Him just like I would my best friend. No the food didn’t disappear, but Jesus knew what getting Him a glass of water and making Him a plate of food would do for me. His purpose in asking me to do this was for me to see and know how near He was and how REAL He is. Nothing else I could’ve done that night could’ve been more important or more satisfying than getting my Savior a glass of water.
I had never felt so honored and so important.
“So what’d you do Friday night?”
“Oh just served Jesus a glass of water AND made him dinner… it’s chill.”
Haha but seriously, nothing could’ve caused me to have FOMO that night because there’s nothing else on earth I would’ve rather been doing.
This felt like a very intimate story for me to share and I wrestled with whether or not to share it because it’s so special to me and I wondered if people may not understand it. But my goal in sharing this isn’t to make you understand my story. My goal and my hope is to encourage you in how NEAR your Jesus is to you right now. May my story encourage you to allow yourself to have your own story of an intimate time with Him where He meets you in a way that you’ve never experienced Him before.
“…Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance…” Isaiah 55:2
Laney! I know this took courage to share, but I am so thankful that you did. A relationship with Jesus is a two-way street. It’s a dialogue. He does speak. May we quiet our hearts to hear His voice. I love your obedient spirit in getting the glass of water and the plate of food. And your obedient spirit in sharing. May the Lord bless you! This story absolutely touched my heart!
AHHH so good
Laney, this is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing this, it definitely spoke to me, reminding me how near our Jesus truly is. I noticed that you cared more about obeying the Lord’s voice than what your roommates (or the blog readers!) might think. Way to go, sweet girl! You’re an encouragement.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I know it took a lot to share it but it is really inspiring. I will remember to quiet my heart and listen to Jesus. And maybe have dinner with him!
AMEN LANEY!! So inspired by this simple act of serving our LORD! Nothing is more satisfying then to serve the one and only King who is worthy to serve! I have often felt the same way, that “what am I doing with my life” question, and whenever I am tempted to ask that I simply change the question to “what is HE doing with my life?!” Joshua 24:15 is something I have to ask myself every morning and everyday I choose to serve God it is an amazing and Wonderful Day!!!
The Lord knew this 48 year old grandma needed to read this sweet and precious story Laney—it’s Friday night and I’m home alone!!! Ive turned off the tv and turned on the worship music ..and serving Jesus how ever he may direct me 🙂 thank you so much for sharing this!!!
Wow Laney, this is so good. Keep loving Jesus and telling of His Good News!
this is me, sometimes when I’m out I just image putting His arms around me and walking behind like a boyfriend or something, ( not like for long periods if time, but just enough to remebr He is here) Jesus loves to take those places in our hearts
WOW. I did this last night. My roommate wasn’t home, I had just gotten off work and wanted nothing else but to watch Netflix until it was socially acceptable to go to bed. I had picked up takeout from my favorite Cajun place on my way home and instead of binging on it AND Netflix, I shared dinner with Jesus. I spent some wonderful time with him last night and it was so so great 🙂
Nicely written and sweet story. Just as Christ served us through the cross, it is our privilege to serve Him and His people.
I wrote a blog post about knowing Jesus personally as well. You can check it out on my blog- http://www.thepreciouspath.com
Emily Winter
Love, love, love this! What an amazing visual and beautiful picture of what really encountering our Creator looks like. Such a great reminder to be still, quiet our souls and allow HIM to speak to us and allow ourselves to truely be in HIS presence! Thank you for sharing!
God spoke to me as I was reading this thank you so much for sharing your experience with use so that maybe God would speak to us through it. Laney your such a bueatfuil writter keep on living original.
I love your bravery for sharing something so personal to you and for showing people how important being a faithful servant is to you! I share in this is a little different way. I spend my quiet time while in car line waiting to pick up and deliver kids from different schools. I always pray aloud while in the car and have regular aloud conversations with the father. I’m sure the other cars around are wondering if I’ve lost my mind since no one else is sitting in the car with me and to begin with I felt a little silly, but then I remembered all that Christ has done for me and now having this intimate time with him has become the highlight of my day. So I proudly talk to him in the car as loud as I want and just smile and waive to anyone looking at me funny ?
This touched me in a really amazing way, I felt that Jesus spoke to me through this blog. Thank you so much for sharing this personal moment Laney!!
Wow. Sitting here with tears in my eyes, because this is probably the coolest story I’ve heard in a while. What an awesome depiction of Jesus’ love and desire to spend time with us in such a real way if only we will slow down and let him.
I love this! I talk out loud with God and when I was a child every night I used to open my arms wide to "hug" God. It was truly an amazing experience.
Wow. I’m laying in bed before I go to sleep, inspired! Lately I’ve felt that I haven’t spent enough time with my Lord. I feel as if it’s not fair to God to put him on a shelf and not spend time growing in my faith. I’m definitely going to work on having coffee with Jesus. ❤️