Out by the thistles and the milkweed, on the gravel road that heads toward home, I knew it for sure—

This grand globe is but a covering for a very near and grander Heaven. As surely as the Good Lord lives on high, He’s knocking on doors inside people’s bodies, here on planet Earth.

Out on the gravel, with my two hands on the steering wheel, I opened that heart-door again — like I’ve done a thousand times before. Sure, it was the song on the radio that started things. But mostly, it was God.

I’ve felt it before: in the pew, on the beach, in aisle seven at Target. Or kicking up gravel on the way from the grocery store, with a gallon of milk on the passenger seat.

God knows no bounds, and worship can happen anywhere. Sometimes, Jesus comes knocking when you are wholly unaware of what you’re about to encounter. I try to keep the heart-door ajar, because I don’t want to miss any miracles.

God seems to favor the element of surprise, falling like dew on the skin, landing softly like a bird on a wire. And you look around to see if anyone else felt what you felt: an earthquake of the soul.

It happened like that the other day, on that gravel road, out past the Ter Wee farm, and down by the Browns’ pasture, near the tail-twitching horses and a single bird perched on a fence.

A song was playing, by Phillips, Craig & Dean. That trio in the speakers ushered worship straight into my car, and into my heart.

It felt like the rending of an inner veil, from the top down. I — mere mortal, lowly sinner — dwelt in the presence of the King. Me … with my laundry detergent, my loaf of bread, my box of PopTarts, and a grocery list in my back pocket.

I pulled the car to the side of the road, and felt that one tear fall down my cheek, while yielding to a Savior — out there, by the thistles, covered with thorn upon thorn upon thorn.

“When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God, we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it s written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth.

The sweet language of experience is ‘Thou God seest me.’

When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of
God looking in,
heaven has begun right here on this earth.” 

~ A.W. Tozer

•••••

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”

~ Emily Dickinson

•••••

“Awake my soul
prepare an entrance for Your glory
And let me soul become a throne for You to dwell
And when I need Your Holy Spirit
more than life itself
Then Christ is formed in me.”

~ Phillips, Craig & Dean

•••••

The song (found by clicking here or listening below): Awake My Soul by Phillips, Craig and Dean

Linking with Michelle Derusha…

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