I’m going to start this by being real: it’s hard to write about “fullness” in God when you haven’t been feeling very full lately. The past two weeks have been really rough on my heart. Soul wounds that I thought were healed starting to hurt again, sudden financial mountains that seem impossible to climb, and patterns of thoughts that are rooted in unresolved grief wanting to take over my mind. To be honest, nothing felt very full, quite the opposite, it all felt pretty empty. Yesterday, as I sat down to write out this blog, I told Jesus I needed help. I said, “I got nothing,” and then I sat in silence waiting for all the noise in my head to settle down until I heard Him say: “My fullness is not a feeling. It’s a truth that is always within you and around you; you just have to look for it.” So today I started looking for it. And I saw it. I saw God’s fullness all around me, and it “awakened” His fullness that was always within me, I was just out of touch with it. The interesting thing is that I didn’t see His fullness in grand gestures or epic miracles, I saw it when I saw dear friends who recently got married crossing the street to go to church. How is that an expression of God’s fullness? Because looking at them was like looking at a picture of God’s goodness, and it made my heart so full. I saw His fullness at a worship night when from the other side of the room my eyes caught someone I love worshiping Jesus (God’s freedom), and I saw it when my sister gave me a hug that I didn’t ask for (God’s love). I saw God’s fullness in a little girl holding her mom’s face in her tiny hands and kissing the tip of her nose (God’s purity), I saw it in the genuine laughter of someone who has been struggling with depression (God’s joy), and I saw it when someone who hasn’t reached out in a long time texted me saying, “I love you,” without me ever expecting it (God’s restoration). Do you see how every one of these little things are an expression of His fullness if we just stop and look a little further? God’s fullness is not a perfect life, a pain free heart, or mountaintop experiences. God’s fullness is being intentional about seeing His love, His goodness, and His truths around us and in others, and letting that stir up the fullness that already lives within us. The one Jesus paid the price for. We are actual expressions of His fullness here on earth. God wants to use you and I to express the fullness of who He is every day. When you laugh, when you love, when you say you are sorry, when you give, when you listen, when you pray, when you forgive…you are an expression of your Father’s fullness. That changes people. And it changes us. So no matter how you feel, what you see in your circumstances, or how hopeless a situation may seem, His fullness is within you and around you…you just have to look for it.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face…”