Abiding: Sinking Back Into the Father

There is a place I am learning to return to.

It is lower than my headspace.

Slower than my striving.

Closer than all the noise.

I do not know exactly what to call it. Some authors might call it the way. Others may call it presence, abiding, attachment, union, or the true self. But for me, the words that land closest are these:

It is the place where I stop trying to live from my own frantic thoughts and begin again from my true identity in God.

This morning, I found myself there.

Not in some dramatic moment. Not during a worship service. Not with music swelling or a grand revelation unfolding. I was simply moving slowly through our RV, carrying things back into the Ranch House after five weeks of roaming through the Southeast.

Bag by bag. Item by item. Step by step.

And as I moved, I talked to God.

I thanked Him for the miles. I thanked Him for the memories. I thanked Him for the beauty we saw, the people we met, the places we stayed, and the quiet gifts tucked inside the journey. But even more than that, I thanked Him for all the things He protected us from that we may never even know about.

The delayed turns.

The unseen dangers.

The storms we missed.

The breakdowns that did not happen.

The mercy that traveled with us.

The grace that went before us.

And somewhere in the middle of moving things from the RV into the house, I realized I was not just unpacking belongings. I was abiding.

I was walking with my Dad.

Not a distant deity. Not a cold judge waiting for me to fail. Not a God who is annoyed by my questions or weary of my need.

A Father.

A good, good Father.

The kind who sees. The kind who hears. The kind who comes close. The kind who desires His children to avoid the traps that our own selfish desires can lead us into. Not because He wants to control us, but because He loves us.

That is what good fathers do.

They warn. They guide. They correct. They protect. They provide. They stay.

And our Father has done more than merely tell us He loves us. He sent His Son to show us.

Jesus came to save us from our own way. To rescue us from sin and separation. To fulfill what the law could never work out in us. To atone once and for all. To reconcile us back to God in a way that only God could do, and in a way where only God gets the glory.

That is the Gospel.

Not self-improvement.

Not religious performance.

Not trying harder to become acceptable.

The Gospel is God coming for us.

The Father sending the Son.

The Son giving His life.

The Spirit coming to dwell in the hearts of those who believe.

And now, until the day we see Him face to face, we get to walk with Him.

Talk with Him.

Listen for Him.

Abide in Him.

Jesus said:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
— John 15:4

It is no coincidence that our Church, Stonewater here in Granbury started a teaching series as of May 2026, called “Walking in the Spirit” or that I was drawn to a book, titled, “The Abiding Room” God is our Father, He desires us to experience intimacy with Him throughout each day. In the words of Samuel the profit, (recorded in 1 Samuel 3) “Speak, for your servant is listening