Hi Friends,

I’m having SO much fun on tour with Women of Faith this year. Maybe we’ve met in your city already and shared some laughs. Or maybe the Women of Faith tour is coming to a city near you in the next few weeks.

There’s one thing I know for sure – I love meeting new friends. If I could, I’d take you out to a café and sip my complicated, slightly high-maintenance latte drink while you tell me all about your story.

But since we’re only screen-to-screen right now, I thought I’d share some dialogue I’ve had with friends I’ve met while traveling and speaking.

I’m asked lots of questions when I meet people at conferences.

Practical questions…
“How did you get started speaking and writing?”

Hilarious questions…
“Why do you look so much better in person than the pictures on your books?”

Heart-wrenching questions…
“How did you forgive those that hurt you so much?”

Hard questions…
“Why would God let this happen?”

Honest questions…
“How can I find God, connect with God in the midst of my everyday life?”

It’s that last question that compels me to do what I do every day. It’s what brings me to sit at the computer and tangle with words and truths and vulnerable admissions. It’s what compels me to split my heart wide open and let people see the not-so-great stuff about me mixed with the gracious goodness of God.

Because if I can help a soul find an authentic, honest way to connect with God, all the other questions will settle down a bit.

Wait more patiently. Maybe decide it’s okay if they go unanswered.

Except for the question about my photos. Some people have the “it” factor in photos and some don’t. It doesn’t matter how many times I get my pictures done, I still get the same comment. Everywhere. I. Go. Without. Exception. Heaven. Help. Me.

Anyhow.

Connection with God is such a deeply personal and uniquely individual process. Surely it can’t be reduced to three points and a poem. But there are two words that stir me. Move me. Show me. Propel me. Two words I hear Jesus saying over and over, “Follow me.”

Tucked within these two words, three syllables, 8 letters is the wild secret of deep connection with God.

If we want to know God, we have to follow Him.

Follow His instructions.

Follow His heart.

Follow His example.

Not just follow along as we mindlessly repeat the words of the Jesus songs and scribble some notes during the pastor’s sermon.

No.

Really follow. Follow hard. Follow passionately. Follow fully. Follow with engaged minds and willing hearts and open hands and ready feet.

And where can we start this kind of all-out following?

By asking God to let us see Him.

When we pray, we invite the divine presence of the Almighty God to do life with us that day. Watch for Him.  Look for Him. Make the connection of things that happen as direct evidence of His hand at work.

In us. Around us. In spite of us.

Ask Him to help you see His activity as you seek to follow more fully.  And He will.

Rest assured God isn’t trying to hide from us.  He is waiting to be seen by us.

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:12-13)

I know some days are really, really hard. He doesn’t always feel near. But we can cling to the truth that He is near. Choose to pursue Him each day.

And no matter what season you’re in right now, I pray these words encourage you.

Sweet Blessings,

Lysa TerKeurst