Seek Me and Find Me
After I gave my life to Jesus when I was in eighth grade, I became a sponge for the truth. The youth pastor at my church taught from Jeremiah 29. I’ll never forget what he said.
“Jeremiah 29:11 is important. It’s just beautiful. Yes, God has a plan for you,” he said. “But sometimes you may not understand the plans. You may not understand the dips. You may not understand the lows. You may not even understand the mountaintops. But the beauty is that no matter where you are on the journey, whether you’re on top of the mountain or the bottom of the valley, you can call on the name of the Lord and pray to him, and he will listen to you no matter where you are or how you’re feeling.
“As long as you’re seeking God with all your heart, you will find him. This is his promise: ‘You will seek me and find me if you seek me with all your heart.’”
It was like a thunderclap in my heart. The influence for which I longed from others actually existed—but not in a fallible human. It existed only in a heavenly Father. When my earthly father let me down, my heavenly Father never would. When one of my parents said, “I can’t today,” God’s Word promised me, “Jesus can.”
From that moment, I better understood what it meant to seek the Lord with all my heart. I started opening up the Bible to actually seek God, talk to him, and lean in to hear from him for the first time.
In the countless times I fell apart, I found comfort in the truth that I could call on the God of the universe, and he cared enough to listen to me. Even when I didn’t understand my future or my past, I could call to him and seek him with my little heart, and he would listen to me. And that meant I could find him any time I needed him.
I didn’t need all the answers.
I just needed to seek Him.
