Seeing God

25The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, f“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20: 25 - 29 NKJV

I have a aquaintance who has been through alot in the past few years.  Although she still engages in behavior which is questionable, I have no doubt that she is on our heavenly Fathers radar.  The reason that I know this is because...she has seen God.  Of course, some may doubt my reasoning on this, but I believe in my heart that she has indeed seen the Lord.  It all began when she visited her family in rural Washington state.  In the course of her visit, she happened to cross paths with one of the families recent additions.  See, a few weeks before a stray kitten had taken up residence under the back porch of her fathers home.  All attempts to befriend the feline had been met with vicious anger, so the family just lef the cat alone while leaving food out for it to eat.  A few days later their daughter arrived for a visit after going through her share of violence and dissapointment.  What is curious is that while the stray cat had showed anger at everyone else that had attempted to befriend it, when this young lady approached the cat it suddenly began to show love and affection, much to her delight.  Now, I'm a firm believer that animals have the ability to sense our feelings and emotions, but I also truly believe that this young lady had seen God.  That is, she had seen the love of God.  After all, love is at the very heart of who our heavenly Father is.  

7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4: 7 - 11 NKJV

The apostle John tells us in 1 John 4 that God is indeed love.  For if we are looking for some semblence of proof that God exists, I believe that this is where we need to began our search.  If we are unable to see love, we may be unable to see God Himself.  See, Thomas doubted despite the fact that the other disciples around him insisted that they had seen the risen Christ.  Thomas desired proof that his Lord was indeed alive.  It wasn't until Jesus indeed appeared to the doubting Thomas that be would believe..."My Lord and my God!"  Jesus Himself has some pointed words for us after revealing Himself to Thomas.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.  I'm guessing that I should indeed call myself blessed then.  In regards to this young lady in question, I fully believe that our Lord was there with her, showing Himself and His love through this stray cat.  All I can say is that she got the message.  She could not believe that this kitten who had shown so much malice towards everyone else around her would somehow start loving on her.  As I said, the effect of this interaction on her was profound.  Suddenly she had seen God.  Suddenly she had seen unconditional love for the first time in a long time.  Love without the conditions of man.  Love shown simply because she was there to accept it.  This is the love of God.  So, do I have any doubt that God indeed manifested Himself through His creation that His child would indeed see His love through it?  Not at all.  Any one of us may, at one time or another, see God in His love that He reveals to us.  I know of one young lady who has seen God.

~Scott~