Tonight I had the pleasure of attending he Women’s Bible Study my church has on Wednesday nights. Normally, I don’t get the opportunity, as my house is typically filled with 8th & 9th grade girls helping themselves to everything in my cupboards, which almost always ends with Nutella all over my living room and a major dent in my gummy vitamins (I heart them).

Alas, we are breaking for the craziness of finals and summer. Where we will fill our time with a multitude of camps and days spent at Tybee. Ahhhh, summer.

So this bible study. Have you ever thought you knew what something was, when you really had no clue? And then God just blows you away because sometimes He knows what you need better than you do? It’s sweet, really.

It was a night of sharing highs and lows. And there were some highs. And of course some lows. Many that could not be shared, so as to protect our sweet time together, but highs to rejoice over. Like new marriages and new babies, and just precious joys given to us by God.

Which brings me to my thought. So I’m reading this great book called Woo, by Morgan Schmidt. And before attending the group I read this great chapter that had to do with our desires and how maybe it’s not so bad to enjoy things in life, because many times, they are God given desires and passions and joys. And perhaps there’s worship in enjoying the things in life that God has given us. Perhaps there’s worship in the places we would not likely find worship (like at a Taylor Swift concert…you should probably read the chapter because at this point, I’m butchering it).

So we are discussing how distant many of us feel from God. The monotony of reading our bible and praying and did I even pray yesterday? What did I say? What did I read that stuck out? What did I thank God for? Is my relationship with God stale?

And then I thought about what I just read. About joy and desires. And the joy that had previously filled the room and we discussed the great things happening and how God is on the move. We are not far from God at all. Though we may feel it, there’s something to be said about our immeasurable joy being an act of worship.

If find joy in music and I get to go to a concert, perhaps the excitement I experience at the concert (Jesus Culture or John Mayer) is a reflection of the worship I give to a God that created music. How sweet.

As Schmidt describes in her book, desire makes up who we are. Joy is what connects us to Christ, so if we find unmeasurable joy in the mundane things of our every day life, we are indeed not far from God, but God is near and God is rejoicing alongside us. In the excitement we get over getting married, or finding out we’re expecting, or getting a new job, or even just our everyday successes.

Don’t buy into the lie that the enemy wants to believe that God is distant. Daily devotional or not, He is near and on the move.