Who Is He To You?

Are you having what some would call a wilderness experience? It seems as though nothing particularly good is happening for you right now. The things that ARE happening you really could do without, but still you're hoping, praying and it's taking everything in you not to give up. You get a glimmer of hope but then that's taken away. It seems you're all alone, you're confused and it feels like you're never going to emerge from this dark, dry place. Somehow you manage to hold on to what little hope you have believing that things will get better. Family and friends try to encourage you and it helps until you absorb the next blow, that unwanted news or something else goes terribly wrong. Some may try church or some other religious settings for the first time and some will be returning to them. There are those who will go in an entirely different direction because at this point it's all about finding relief. Unfortunately some people turn to drugs, alcohol, perverted sex and things of that nature; anything that will allow an escape or help to numb the pain. Eventually we will have to find the reason for whatever this is that's causing all this discontentment and get to the root of it. How are we supposed to conquer what we don't confront? We constantly wonder what's going on? Where did we go wrong? When will this ever end? Will it ever end? Some of us ask God what does He want from us? We're perplexed because it usually comes out of nowhere or so it seems. Looking back, I find that when my life is about to shift this happens to me, when I feel like I should be doing more with my life I start going through these changes. I hold God responsible for this, because I believe it's Him stretching my faith, taking me to another level and allowing me to get to know Him better/in other ways. How will we know Him personally as our healer if we never experience sickness? How will we know him as our deliverer if we don't get stuck in those hard places and it's Him and only Him who brings us out? I don't want to know about God or know of Him I need to know Him personally, like you know your parents, a favorite relative or a best friend. When we pray to know Him in this way knowledge of who He is doesn't just drop into our hearts and minds. It's in the tough times, when He shows up and rescues us when we get to know Him as our deliverer. When we experience His peace as we come through a storm, we can call Him the Prince Of Peace. When He heals our bodies we recognize Him as our healer. When He supplies our needs we then look to Him as our provider. When he restores our finances, marriages or whatever we're unable to repossess then we look to Him as the all sufficient God. These are the times when we find out for ourselves just who He is to us, we see Him as never before. He becomes "THE GREAT I AM" to us, the only one who's able to bring us through absolutely anything!