By Ali Fulbright Acosta
I’ve read this verse so many times, but this morning it meant something different.
I love that this verse starts with the phrase, “you will seek Me” and not “you might seek Me”… because just that one-word conveys an entirely different message.
“You will seek me” means that He knows every one of us, from the first breath we take, will fill the missing piece in our hearts that He placed in us and will be seeking to fill that void until we find Him.
I believe through the times when I’ve felt farthest from God or when I’ve been running from His arms instead of to them; I was still seeking him.
I was seeking His unconditional love, the only love that could make my heart whole and fill it, unlike anything else in this world. I was seeking His mercy. The only mercy that is sufficient and always overflowing with second chances, regardless of how many times or how often I mess up. I was seeking His healing. The only healing that reaches deeper than just physical healing and brings restoration as it touches the heart’s brokenness.
Even when, in my stubbornness, I thought I was doing life on my own, I now see how I was only searching to find everything I needed from where I came.
He says that we will seek Him and find Him. And when we find Him, we will find eternal love, mercy, and healing: making everything that happens in the world and everything that’s hurting in us ok again.
Today, I know that seeking God with my whole heart is the only thing that will fill the voids I may still feel. Every day I pray that God will open my eyes and make His presence known as he fills that missing piece.
As you seek God in the days ahead, remember that this new year may not mean that the pandemic will end or that your struggles will go away, but it is a chance to seek God with all your heart and honestly believe that He will make all things new.