Society encourages us to find God through religion, church, family and tradition. These are all wonderful ways to reach God. But I want to talk about something deeper than that. A relationship that is so personal and intimate that you will not doubt that you have finally made a connection with your soul’s true mate.

The God Trend

For thousands of years, the way that we speak to God, hear God and do right by God has been dictated to us through scripture, church, religion and tradition. We have been taught a variety of routine ways to connect with God: read the bible; stop and pray; attend church; participate in activities with your religious community; and, finally, be obedient.

What has yet to be encouraged in our society is the exploration and discovery of who God is to you on a very personal level. When we pass away, the plan is to meet with God personally – not in conjunction with our family and friends or our church community. They will not be present when we stand at the gates of Heaven. It will just be us and God. That is all.

So why should this moment come after we have already lived our lives? Why would that tender moment with God not be a part of our daily routine? Every day – no matter what we are doing?

Our community driven ways of praising and worshiping God are great avenues to reach God, but when you are doing every day activities, such as cleaning your house our getting ready for work in the morning, those are the times when a truly intimate relationship with God can be created! He is already there…present in your home…reaching out to help you or to talk with you….ready to help you make decisions or just listen while you are in the midst of anger and fear.

Sometimes, God can be portrayed as an angry sort of energy that is ready to lash out if you say or do the wrong thing. He can be used to scare us into being just and obedient. And while I truly believe that God has His moments because He is trying to get us from one path to another, I do not believe that this type of portrayed nature is His ideal way of communicating with us.

God Wants to Be Close to You!    

Sometimes, the problem with church and religion is that we are told that we have to make time in our ridiculously hectic schedules to attend religious activities or to pray in order to be closer to God. This is not the case. While it is good to continue religious activities that are important to you and make you feel good, there are other ways that you can connect with God while going about your busy day!

How Can I Feel Closer to God? 

When your alarm goes off in the morning, you can curse the moment, but then quickly thank God in your mind for another day! As you get out of bed, you can be honest and tell God that you do not know how you are going to make it through this day and that you need His help. As you are going out the door, you can tell God that you are afraid to make that presentation at work and that you need Him to hold your hand (or whatever deep-down, honest comfort you may be longing for during that time).

Try to talk with your good friend when you are washing an apple to eat for a snack. You can simply say, “thank you, God, for the gift of this apple.” When you are holding your child in the chair at night, you can tell God what you love about your child and thank Him for the gift of your son/daughter. If you are laying in bed at night thinking of a dilemma, you can say, “Please guide me, God, and help me to make the right decision. I just don’t know what to do. What would You do?” Listen quietly for a moment. You may not hear an actual voice, but you may get a strong feeling about what to do or an idea may pop into your mind.

Scared?

Sometimes, the only one we can lean on is God. Truthfully, if we can come to realize that the best one to lean on is God, then we have found the relationship that we are looking for! God is there for you – right there – just holding you close and guiding you….if you want Him to be.

You can say, “Please, God, be with me. Watch over and protect me.” Or you can say, “Please, God, hold me close to you.” If you repeat these little prayers (or whatever other words that come to you in a more personal way) over and over, you may start to feel less fear and more confident in moving forward.

Remorseful?

If you have done something wrong and feel deeply sorry for it, apologize. Just as in any relationship, when we apologize and truly mean it, it starts to heal what has been broken. “Sorry, God. I am so sorry for having done that. Please watch over (the person you hurt) and help me to make it right.” I believe that saying sorry is very challenging for many people, especially today. People tend to just ignore an event that caused someone pain and move on as though nothing ever happened. Saying sorry is a powerful action. If you cannot say it to the person you hurt, try saying it to God first.

Angry with God?

Angry with God, Himself? Feel hatred towards Him? That’s okay. God wants to hear about it! Parents are used to hearing their children say, “I hate you!” Under what circumstances would a parent most often hear this? When they are trying to do right by their child. When they are trying to protect them. A teenager tells her mom she hates her because her mom won’t let her go out with her rowdy friends, but her mother knows what her child doesn’t and she stands by her decision in order to protect her.

Like a parent, God is looking out for you. And, like children, we may not understand why things are not going our way. God has good reason that you may not see until later on in life. You may not even see until you pass on. Rest assured, God knows why. We may just not be “old enough” to understand right now.  I have certainly had my “I hate you” moments with God, but as time has gone on, I have come to understand why some of those events happened and why I went through what I had to in order to get to where I am today.

Personal Space

What is really nice about a relationship with God is that you can not only talk with Him out loud or just in a whisper, but you can speak with Him nonstop in your mind! Your mind is a sacred place where no one else but you and God can connect. You do not have to worry about your co-workers giving you odd looks when you talk out loud to God or your spouse wondering who else you are talking to when they catch you whispering in the kitchen. God gave us our minds as a special and private place to speak with Him as deeply as we want to.

Not Just God!  

God is more than likely the One with whom you would like to ultimately connect with. But what about others who are close to God? Perhaps you would like to have a closer relationship with Jesus? Perhaps Mother Mary? The Saints?

You can connect with them just as well! Sometimes, we can thank Jesus for good moments or tell Jesus our thoughts. Sometimes, Mother Mary is nice to talk with when there is a wish for a motherly presence.

And do not forget about loved ones that have passed on!

When you become more in-tune with your connection with God, you may also pick up on who else (if any) may be present. You may soon find yourself speaking with that person before you even really realize that their spirit is present.

God’s Love For You

What is truly amazing and what we have yet to promote in our society is that God’s word is not only written on holy doctrines and throughout religious facilities and events, but that His word is within each of us. He longs to have a very personal relationship with each one of us – not just as a community as a whole. You can start having your very own special relationship with God right now! Just think in your mind, “I love you, God” and you may just hear Him say, “I love you” back!