Where is God?

Psalm 42:2   My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God? (NIV)
   For two years previous to this past summer I was on a huge ministry adventure.  Back in the spring of 2013, my intention was to gain long term employment, get married, and settle down.  Instead God put me on a ministry trip which involved living in two other states in two years.  First I was in a rural area in Appalachia teaching Bible.  I enjoy teaching, I loved the students, and I liked Kentucky, yet I struggled with discipline issues at the school, it was a poor place to be single and looking for a wife, and I always felt a bit of an outcast there in that rural area.
   Once during a hard time for me as I was in a transition before moving from Appalachia, I went for a hike in the mountains behind the school.  I lived on the school grounds in the teacher dorm, and a hike was common for me, since when I was a teacher I hiked up a little mountain behind the school after school almost every day to get refreshed.  It was a needed opportunity for me.
   On that warm day I took a side path to a place where I was in the midst of thick woods.  At one point I stood on a tree stump which was on the edge of a steep hill.  I prayed, expressing a need to know the presence of God.  Then not saying anything, I stood there for a long time, but I did not feel God.  I heard the leaves of trees blowing in the wind both near and far.  Yet I did not sense the presence of God.  Yet the unusual thing was I had peace.  In reflecting back on that event, and some similar events during that two year ministry adventure, I realize that during some extremely difficult times during that challenging ministry trip I was unable to detect the direct presence of God in the woods or by a river even though being in those environments made me feel closer to Him normally.  Yet even in those difficult times I could know God in my heart, for He was with me.  Jesus revealed that God is spirit (John 4:24) and all people have a spiritual core, since people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  For any person who believes in Jesus, he or she is baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33), and the Holy Spirit dwells in her or his heart (1 Corinthians 6:19).  The reality of the Holy Spirit may not be physically detected by us, yet He is someone we can know in our spiritual heart, the One who brings joy and peace to the heart of His child, even when circumstances are crummy.
   I miss walks in the woods of Kentucky.  I miss walks on the C&O Canal by the Potomac River from when I was in Maryland for a few weeks before coming home.  Yet there were some hard days for me during that ministry trip; and there was one period where God seemed to have deserted me.  Yet God was present with me daily, and He remains with me, wherever I happen to be.  I say “Thank You Jesus for being with me.”
   If you have never believed in Jesus, may you know Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of wrongdoings, which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved from spiritual death, and God will be with you forever.
Hunter