Advent Day #3- Where are you?

Today, as we read our advent devotions, I couldn't help but fill up with tears and feel a sense of awe as we looked at the story of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden...

After they sinned, God's very first words to them were "Where are you?"
not words of condemnation...
not "why?" or "how could you?"...

but instead, words that imply He desires to be near...

Our natural inclination after we have sinned is to run and hide from God... but that is the last thing God wants us to do.  He knew that Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, and yet in His great love, He was concerned with finding them and drawing them back to Himself.

Ann Voskamp says, "God refuses to give up on you. Your God looks for you when you're lost. Your God calls out for you when you're ashamed and broken and hurting... He never stops looking for you."

How often do we miss out on the relationship with our heavenly Father because we are running FROM Him instead of TO Him?

What might be keeping you from drawing near to Him; what do you need to walk away FROM so that you can walk TOWARDS Him?

God's love is screaming for you to come to His feet and worship Him, to let go of anything that hinders, and to accept His love in powerful ways this Christmas.

So... are you there, at His feet, this Christmas?  If not, may I ask- because I am CERTAIN He is also asking- "Where are you?"

(Advent devotional thoughts are adapted from Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift.)