You are my hiding place! You protect me from trouble and put
a song into my heart because you saved me!

Psalms 32:7

My most vivid encounter with God cannot be summed up in a
story. I suppose it all started the day I accepted Christ into my heart.

I sat in the sand, pushing the yellow dump truck back and
forth, I was three. I had just gotten yelled at for something- who knows what,
my parents will contest to the fact that I was a naughty child. I looked up at
the tree in my backyard; it was huge! I knew that God was bigger than that tree
and He loved me enough to die on the cross for me and my 'naughtiness'- that
wasn't something I could go on living without. I asked Jesus to be King of my
heart, and thus it began.

From that day forward, my relationship with Christ has been
a wonderful example of how He is the perfect shepherd and I am the mindless
sheep. Just as He pulls me in and lets me experience His loving, perfect self, and I begin to wander again.

My story is God's undying love and pursuit of my
ever-wandering heart. I praise the Lord that He has always sought after me-
even when I rejected Him.

Pursuit (pur-SOOT): an effort to secure or attain

And that is how I have encountered Christ most vividly- in
His undying attempt to secure and attain my heart.

I have struggled through many obstacles- rejected God so
many times; yet He pursued me through all of it.

I struggled with eating disorders. God pursued me. I looked
for love in men. God pursued me. I
became a hypocrite. God pursued me. I thought I could do it myself. God pursued
me. I got comfortable. GOD PURSUED
ME!

He broke me of all these idols, He pursued me through the darkest hours of my life- 

He set me FREE!

He has broken me in every way possible to make me realize
HIS LOVE is all I need.

My most vivid encounter-

watching Him work
in my life. Hearing Him whisper into
my heart. Knowing He loves me
perfectly. And after years of pursuit- Letting Him be King of my heart!