Bonding or Bondage

     This weekend I woke early in the morning to find myself with arms raised and somewhere between sleep and wakening, I was praising and worshiping the Lord.  I had such peace when I awoke and truly this is my heart.  As I was thinking deeply about this, as I often do about things, I was thinking about how my desire is to be in His presence...constantly in His presence.  Pressed up against Him.  Immediately I pictured a child crawling up into the lap of a parent snuggling in right into the crook of His neck.  Then I pictured the birth of a new born, placed upon the chest of its mother.  This is done after birth to form a bond, a connection.  There is nothing standing between the baby and the mother, they are skin to skin, and the baby surely could hear the heart beat of the mother, something it has heard for 9 months in the womb.  Peace, assurance of safety and security, completely unaware of anything else around it.  That is my hearts desire, to just be that close, nothing to come between that bond, and fully hearing His heart beat.
Then the Lord placed another picture in my head, that of sand. 
 I am blessed to have had and will have the opportunities to go to the Bahamas and enjoy time in the sand and sun.  I am looking forward to that again this year.  Only one thing I can think of that I am not looking forward to about this trip is sand in my bed.  We are seriously surrounded by sand at our hotel.  Tracking it in to your room in inevitable.  As hard as I try, and as much as we sweep, take our shoes off at the door etc.... sand gets into the room.  Without fail, I somehow end up with at least a grain of it in my bed....IT DRIVES ME CRAZY.  One grain of sand between the sheets and my skin can really wreck havoc on a good nights sleep.  Its the difference between restlessness and peace.  It can be the same in our lives.  The smallest most minuscule thing, that may seem as small as a grain of sand, can get between you and God and steal your peace and your joy.  What is it that we have in our lives that is getting in the way of that complete peace.  You may think that you can ignore it, but lest you get rid of it, it may steal from you that which you desire.  Nothing is hidden from God, He knows every detail of our lives.  He knows our name.  
He desires to be "skin to skin", nothing standing between you and He.  He could shake out the sheets, but He wants you to take a hold of a corner.
God knows your name.  He knows your personally.  He has inscribed your name on the palm of His hands, you are always that close to Him.  Isn't that wonderful!  Isn't that enough reason to feel safe in His hands?  Why would we ever want anything to get in-between us and God?
I don't know where your find yourself today.  Perhaps you feel lost or alone or far from home and you're not sure how to find your way back.  Remember that He knows your name and He is willing to help you get rid of anything that stands between you and He...things we have placed there, not Him.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Ask Him to help you shake out your sheets and get you back on track.  If you need direction, He will give it to you, just ask.
I love this passage from Psalm 139.  Meditate on these scriptures and remind yourself just how intimately your God knows you.

Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.