Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

Look into My Eyes

by Lindsey Hanekom

I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy.
Psalm 123:1-2a, NLT

I was recently having a conversation with God where I was sharing some of the pain of my heart with him and I felt him say, “Come and dive with me.” What a ridiculous thing to say! It made no sense to me. I knew He didn’t mean this literally, but I pursued the thought in my heart, and I was reminded of some of my scuba diving exploits.

As a diver you learn very quickly that you can communicate so much just through the eyes, since that is all you have, aside from limited hand signals. I remembered times when I was learning to dive and felt uneasy under the water and would turn to my instructor. I knew his eyes were on me the whole time we were diving, even if I was quite happily doing my own thing. All I had to do was turn to him and, with just one look in his eyes, I knew I was safe and immediately my body would relax.

As I considered these times, I heard once again, “Come and dive with me.” I now know Jesus was calling me to connect with Him in this way. He allows us so much freedom to do our own thing and enjoy life, but we can get ourselves into situations, or the world can throw things at us that make us feel unsafe. At these times we have a choice. Do we try to fix it ourselves, find a way through by our own strength, rationality or strong wills, or do we turn and focus on our Saviour, Jesus Christ?

When all things seem so uncertain, when you feel as though the storms of life are overwhelming, there is only one place that we can find true peace and that is in Christ alone. As the old song says, ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.’

Prayer: Father God, in times of great uncertainty, where I feel unsafe, maybe even fearful, I choose to turn my eyes to You, to focus on You and look into Your eyes of love and mercy. I choose not to rely on my own ways of coping but to find my peace and security in You alone. Amen.

Lindsey Hanekom Lindsey has worked at all of our UK centres over the years and has settled at Ellel Scotland with her husband, Johann and their two young children, Kyle and Zoe. As part of the Leadership Team at Ellel Scotland, Lindsey has a heart for the deeply broken as she oversees the prayer ministry and is an established and passionate teacher with Ellel. In her spare time, Lindsey enjoys the natural world, particularly the ocean, and is trained as a specialist medic to assist stranded and injured marine mammals.

 

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