Seeking God's Face

Friday night at our church prayer meeting my husband spoke about 'taking up our cross' from Matthew 16. In Luke we are told to take up our cross daily. God has been speaking to me about seeking His face. I work with pre school children with special needs and this week a new little boy started at the nursery, he stood in the garden next to another little boy with their backs towards me, they looked almost identical...same colour skin, same shaved hair and same red lined hoods to their navy coats. Another child who has autism and very little language came alongside me, he obviously noticed the same thing that I did, he walked over to one boy, very gently took his face in his hands and turned it towards him, he examined the boys face. He then turned to the other boy and did the same, he smiled and walked away. He realised that from the back they looked the same but on examining their faces he could tell they were different boys. God wants us to do this with Him, to get so close to Him that we too can examine His face, we can look into His eyes, we can feel the gentleness of His breath on our face, we can feel the warmth of His love. There is an old song that we used to sing, it begins 'I will rejoice in You and be glad, I will extol Your love more than wine, draw me unto You that we may run together, I will rejoice in You and be glad.' God wants us to run with Him. When I pray for my children that is my prayer "Draw them unto You Lord that you may run together". That is the closeness that God wants us to have with Him, not running behind so we can't see His face but up alongside Him so we can feel His touch, we can hear His voice. Our focus must be on Him, our heavenly Father, not our work, our families, our troubles, but Him. Our trust must be Him who will take care of all those other parts of our lives. In order for us to have this relationship with God, we must take up our cross daily and follow Him.