God Do Not Be With Me, Remind Me That You Are Already And Always Within Me

Sometimes when I’m overwhelmed I pray this, ‘God please be with me.’ I’ve heard that line in church, I’ve heard it said by other believers, I’ve heard it hundreds of times as a calling to our Father, asking Him to draw near, draw closer.

But the problem with that prayer is that He is never gone.

Asking God to come closer somehow implies that He has left, that He is busy, that He’s wandered away to deal with something else and has totally forgotten us as we spin in our darkness. Asking Him to be with us makes it seem as if He’s neglected us in our moments of need, and only when we beg Him does He choose to reappear.

But that’s not how God’s love is.

His love is ever-present, ever-filling, ever-overflowing. His love is in everything that we do, guiding our every step, encouraging us when we fall. His love is loud. His love is quiet. His love is the in-betweens, when we aren’t sure what to do or where to go. His love is not absent.

His love is not something we have to reach towards, in the sense that if we don’t ask for it we won’t receive it. His love is not something that hides from us, something we have to discover or find.

God’s love is forever and always with in us—in our bones, our blood, our bodies, in our hearts.

God’s love is in the way we breathe, the way we smile, the laughter we share with others, the lips we kiss. In every second, every hour, every day, He’s filling us with positivity and strength, even when we don’t realize it. And He is there, with us, when we falter.

It’s not so much that we have to ask Him to comfort us, but that we have to believe He is there already, waiting to console us when we let Him.

It’s not a matter of asking Him to be with us, but accepting that He already is. And opening ourselves to the love He wants to give.

It’s not about wondering whether He’ll answer our desperate pleas, but knowing that He will in His time and according to His plan. But we cannot treat Him as if He is far away or distant from us. We must know and understand that He is within us, guiding and loving and healing with every step we take.

So that is my prayer, today and every day. That I will be reminded that my Father loves me, and I do not have to ask Him to find me where I am, but that I will accept He is already walking with me, side by side, or carrying me in the times I don’t have the strength to stand.

I pray that I will know His love, trust His love, have faith in His love rather than my own, human body. I pray that instead of feeling His absence, I will open myself to His presence, forever surrounding me, reminding me that I am whole.

And I pray that for each one of us: That instead of doubting, we will trust. That instead of wondering, we will know. That instead of fearing, we will stand on the foundation of our ever-giving Lord. That instead of asking Him to come closer, that we open our arms and let Him in further.

Because He is there, He is waiting.
And He never left.

Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.