His presence is our reward

A few months ago Nancy Southern gave a sermon. One thing she said that stood out to me was, "His presence is our reward." I can't remember the topic of the sermon, but that one thing stood out. Soon after that, we had a miscarriage. Both Grace and I were struggling through this period. We had a pre-term birth earlier in the year and now a miscarriage. We felt God was not actively listening to our prayers and intervening in our life. It seemed like things were just taking a natural course. However, in the midst of these feelings, the thing that Nancy said was in the back of my mind ... His presence is our reward.

Grace and I were keeping our feelings to ourselves; we were not even talking to each other about it. One Friday a member in our small group had a pray request. They had a friend who had experienced untimely deaths in her family and were not able to have children. As a result of these experiences, they were struggling in their faith about God.

When they shared that prayer request, we shared with our small group that we were going through similar struggles. That Sunday our small group prayed for us. The week before I would wake up in the middle of the night, struggling with questions of why and asking God for His mercy in our life and for God to come and affirm and encourage us. After that prayer, God miraculously gave me His peace.

I think one thing that Satan wants us to do is isolate ourselves from the body of the Christ. When he does that he can do his work more effectively. When we share our struggles with the church and have the church pray, there is power in that to overcome.

A few weeks after a lady shared in our small group about "practicing the presence of God". How true! We need to actively seek God's face and His presence in our life for His presence is our reward.