Date with God

Sarah Orne Jewett said, “Don’t try to write about things: write the things themselves just as they are.” Ok!

This afternoon I found myself standing in the food line, my stomach growling and my mouth watering to dig in the delicacies of the food line. I take in the high-frequency giggles and squeals I thought only dogs could hear; the noise level is deafening. If you were here, you would see girls, everywhere. Girls from all different backgrounds and walks of life; some look confident, others shy. Trust me, they can be sugar and spice and everything nice, or your worst nightmare!

There are eight girls on my team—Advanced Excel that is. We are here for a bit of a different purpose than the rest of the girls here. We too come from all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life, but we have all already been through Excel and we have come back for more of the God we savored there.

One of my favorite times of the day is something we call a “Date with God.” This date takes place right after lunch, and it normally lasts for about an hour where we just spend time alone with the Lord. This differs from what is commonly known as a “devotional time” because as is with a date, I am to enjoy myself and enjoy the company of my “significant other” without any pressure to be someone I am not, or do anything at all!

Sometimes I have spent the hour just sitting on the pine green park benches out in the courtyard, watching the sunshine and clouds roll by in the distant blue sky. I might ask God a question that is on my mind that day—any question, not necessarily something deeply spiritual. The other day I found out that one of His favorite colors is pink! Yes, He paints the sky several shades of it almost every evening and we don’t even notice.

I could tell you many more sweet things He has told me, but I won’t. It is our secret. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him…” Psalm 25:14

I want to know God’s secrets—all of them. But for now I am happy just relaxing, rejuvenating, and thanking God for His gifts to me—this place being a huge one of those.

Cristina Rodriguez