Saturday Solace: He Knows You

Intimacy

My Jesus

My Loving One

You love me in a way

That cannot be outdone

Stroking my face

With your gentle touch,

I feel all the ways

That you love me so much

You ask me for nothing

But my heart’s deep devotion

I am swept by a gale

Of unending emotion

Beyond all fear

Beyond any doubt

You know and love me

Inside out

When I touch your heart

For a moment so still

I empty myself

So your Spirit can fill

While wrapped in your arms

I’m protected and hidden

It deepens my passion

And deeper I’m bidden

You call me to enter

As your Beloved Bride

The realm of the loved

Where our spirits collide

And all time, silent, stops

In that intimate place

And I look in your eyes

As you gaze on my face

My love is poured out

And my worship is free

For my life is made new

As You—Into me—

See.

© 2013 Teresa Miles Kephart

When I wrote that poem in a journal long ago, I think it was during a church service. Sometimes during worship, I’ll hear the Lord speaking to my heart and I will get inspired—and I have to write it down when it comes.

This poem was an encouragement to my spirit—that no matter what I was going through—God knew me through and through and could fill me to meet each challenge I faced.

I went through a lot of guilt during the years my parents were in nursing home care—my mom in skilled nursing and my dad in the Alzheimer’s unit. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough—like somehow I could have done more—maybe even prevented them from having to be there. Even though I knew that wasn’t true, I had doubts that kept me in a place of isolation for a while—I withdrew from God, and I think I felt unworthy of His love. When this poem came to me it was clear that God was calling me back—that He  was filling me with His love and taking care of all my earthly concerns—and that included my parents. He wanted me to reach out to Him, from the depths of my being.

That’s what I think it means in Jeremiah when the prophet declares, “You have searched me and you know me.” He knows you—better than you even know yourself—and He wants to meet you where you are, but you have to empty yourself—let Him have room in your heart. He knit you together in your mother’s womb—just think how profound that is! He knows you, and as you draw close to Him, He will banish your fears and doubts, deliver you from any guilt and shame you may be feeling, and renew all things in your life with a single embrace. Enter that realm today, and don’t hold back.