Note from Team LO: We are SO excited to bring you this month’s post from our LO sister member, Kari Ausenhus! If you want to be a part of this incredible community, you can join today and your your first week FREE! Find out more about this online sisterhood HERE. And for more info about what LO sister is all about, visit our Instagram Page!

Now, enjoy today’s post from Kari 🙂 

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Maybe it’s just me, or maybe you’re in this boat with me, but most of my life, many people emphasized to me the importance of having a personal relationship with God. While I longed for it, I didn’t know what that meant or how to go about it. Going to college definitely pushed me further in that direction as I realized that I didn’t have my parents’ faith to rely on and had to make my faith my own. However, I still had no idea what I was doing, and sure I grew, but I desperately wanted more.

Then I went on a date this past semester. No, it was not some horror story date, and I really did have a good time. Although it wasn’t destined to be more than one date, our conversation caused me to realize that I didn’t fully understand what it really meant for someone to genuinely pursue my heart. I was processing through all of it with my sweet friend, Megs, one morning when she brought me her Bible and told me to read Psalm 139 in the Passion Translation, and since that day it has been a lifeline for me. It is genuinely one of my most favorite passages now as it beautifully illustrates the pursuit of the Father. I encourage you to read the whole passage (it’s INCREDIBLE), but I have included some of my favorite verses:

1 Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. 2 You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. 3–4 You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book 6 This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.

14 I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord! 15 You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something. 16 You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. 17–18 Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!

O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore!

23 God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. 24 See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways— the path that brings me back to you.

Psalm 139, I’m telling you – breathtaking, beautiful, and a genuine picture of pursuit and intimacy. Seriously please highlight, star, circle, underline, bookmark, everything about this passage, so you will never lose or forget it! Every time I read it, God reveals more of Himself and more of His love for me.

Anyway, after reading this passage, I decided I wanted to let the Father pursue my heart as I chased after His. The passage begins with “Lord, You know everything there is to know about me.” Wow! The Creator of the universe knows me – knows you. Take it another step further, the Creator of the world knows you better than you know you both the good and the bad, yet He sent His Son to die so you could enter into relationship with Him. For real, just take a second to truly let the magnitude of that sink in. Let’s talk about this personal relationship and what it really means.

I’m going to use an illustration to explain my point. We live in an Instagram and social media-saturated society where we follow people we have never even met and “know” every little detail about them. Like before you meet someone in person you already know where they went on vacation last summer, the sport their brother plays, the name of their golden retriever puppy, and what they ate for breakfast this morning, yet you have never actually spoken to them. Now imagine if the only way you knew people was by their Instagram feed and nothing else. That would be so awful because we crave relationships – real, let’s do life together relationships. God is the same way. He knows, like He actually knows, every single thing about you and your life and still longs to have a personal relationship with you. He wants to know you because you tell Him all about you the same way you would talk to another person (that’s intimacy)!

I love the song, “Simple Gospel,” by United Pursuit in which we sing,

“I want to know you, Lord

like I know a friend”

That is truly the desire of my heart: to know the Father intimately and personally like I know my best friend because I want Him to be my best friend. I also want Him to know me the same way, so I began my journey to intimacy with the Father because I want to pursue His heart and have a relationship with Him like I would with someone I do life with face-to-face. I pour out my words on the pages of my notebook and sing His praises as I talk with Him in prayer.

I’d love to challenge you no matter what season of life you are in – maybe  you’re walking through singleness like me (and let me tell you this has been a perfect time to do this), or maybe you’re dating, engaged, or married – it’s never too late. Begin to pursue the Father like you would another person because here’s the beautiful thing, the Creator made us in His image, sees our imperfections, knows us inside and out, yet longs to have intimacy with us.

Not sure where to begin? Hey, I was in your shoes, so know that you are not alone. If you haven’t already read it or even if you have, I suggest starting by reading Psalm 139 in The Passion Translation. Some other ways I have pursued intimacy with the Father are through penning Him letters and conversations in my journal – some are prayers but some are just me pouring out my heart, thanking Him for the sweetest moments, being honest in my struggles and my need for Him, and asking Him to help me process through different seasons of my life. I also love praying out loud while I drive or run or when I’m in my room, and diving into His Word to discover more about who God is instead of just what He can do for me.

The good news is: He wants intimacy with you even more than you do, but I promise it will be the sweetest journey you’ve ever been on.