Holding the hand of a dying loved one as they take their final breaths—God lives there.
The son returning home to his parents after a season of homelessness and addiction, broken but finally willing to come home—God lives there.
The first time you hold your child and look into a face you somehow already love more than yourself—God lives there.
Forgiving someone when everything inside you, and everyone around you, tells you to resent them—God lives there.
Sitting beside a friend as they navigate a season you cannot fix, offering nothing more than your presence and your love—God lives there.
In the laughter around a dinner table. In a child’s innocence. In the embrace that lasts a little longer than usual. In the phone call that comes at exactly the right time. In the person who says, “I’m here,” and actually stays.
God lives there.
And when we forget all of this, when life hurts and we wonder where God has gone—God lives there too.
I used to think I would find God when everything finally made sense. When I was satisfied. When the problems were solved, the prayers were answered, and life somehow arrived at the place I thought it was supposed to be.
But maybe God isn’t waiting for us at the end of all our problems.
Maybe He is right in the middle of them.
God lives in the hospital room and the delivery room. He lives in the recovery room and the family room. He lives in the apology, the reconciliation, the surrender, and sometimes even in the goodbye.
We spend so much of our lives searching for God in the miraculous that we can miss Him in the ordinary.
A child’s innocence.
A parent’s unconditional love.
A recovering addict walking through the door one more time.
Someone choosing forgiveness over revenge.
A hand reaching for another hand.
A quiet moment when, for no particular reason, you realize that despite everything you’ve been through, you are grateful to be alive.
God lives there.
Perhaps heaven gives us glimpses of itself every day, but we’re moving too fast to notice.
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” — 1 John 4:16
Maybe the question isn’t, “Where is God?”
Maybe the question is, “Am I present enough to see where He already lives?”
