Walking Hand In Hand

I am soo thankful for A LOT and not just because it is Thanksgiving, but because I am Christ's BELOVED! This year I decided to stay at my house in College Station, which means it has been a quiet holiday (when I haven't been on the phone with family!).  After being around my house all day, I decided to go for a walk before it got dark out.  As I was walking through Central Park, I just asked Jesus to come and walk with me and show me something new about himself. As I was walking the song Closer, by Stefany Frizzell- Gretzinger came on my Ipod.  This is one of my favorite songs possibly ever.  As I was listening to the words: 
Your love has ravished my heart
And taken me over, taken me over
And all I want is to be
With You forever, with You forever

Pull me a little closer
Take me a little deeper
I want to know Your heart
I want to know Your heart
‘Cause Your love is so much sweeter
Than anything I’ve tasted
I want to know Your heart
I want to know Your heart

In that moment, I desired to know God's heart so much!  I think I can honestly say I wanted nothing more at that moment than to know Him, the Lover of my soul!  I continued walking, just basking in the glory that He was revealing to me!  He was showing me how much I truly love Him and how Jesus really is everything to me.  I felt Jesus romancing me so sweetly!

  By this point the sun was starting to set so I was going to head home but as I got close to the gate, I had the urge to keep walking toward an intersection that I pass daily, but never really walk there.  At this corner is a large open field,  toward the back of that land there are tons of trees that separates this land from the park.  As I was walking that way with no destination in mind, I asked the Lord to tell what is on His heart.  As I turned a corner, I noticed that some of the trees toward the back of the land had red leaves! RED LEAVES!  I know this may seem silly to anyone reading this, but I love fall! Everything about fall, especially when the leaves change! Leaves changing to bright reds, oranges, yellows, etc is one of my favorite things, its just so beautiful.  When I moved to Texas, a couple of friends informed me that the leaves here don't really change colors except brown, I was heart broken.  Sadly, I'm not exaggerating, my friends said that at that point they had never seen me look so disappointed before.  Anyways.... Not only did was I gazing at red leaves, but the sun was setting so it was huge and a brilliant red.  The way the sunlight hit those trees was breathtaking!  It looked like this row of trees was on fire, I have not seen that since I left Chicago.  I could do nothing else besides praise God, He knows my heart so well  Within a couple minutes of standing there in awe, the sun was almost set and it no longer shone on the trees like it was when I first got to that point.  Jesus orchestrated that perfectly! If it was a couple minutes earlier or later, I would not have seen the beauty that I miss so much!  As I walked home, the song Obsession by Jesus Culture came on and as I was listening to it, I so sweetly and gently heard Jesus saying, "You asked to know my heart, it burns for you!  I am obsessed with you and my heart burns with a deep passion for you!"  How incredible!  I am so overwhelmed right now I don't even know how to express the love that He has given me!  He has ravished my heart and filled me more than I ever thought possible!

Recently, I have been praying and processing through what it truly means to take on the identity of Christ's Beloved.  What would our lives look like if we truly took on that identity and lived it out.  A heart so madly in love with Jesus that all else fades into the background! How amazing would that be!  I feel like Jesus is slowly and gently teaching me who His Beloved is and how to find my identity solely in Him.  Jesus is so sweet!