That Time Jesus Added Me As a Friend on Facebook

“An intimate encounter with Jesus is the most transforming experience of human existence. To know him as he is, is to come home. To have his life, joy, love, and presence cannot be compared. A true knowledge of Jesus is our greatest need and our greatest happiness.” ~John Eldredge

As many of you know, I made it a New Year’s resolution this year to seek God with abandon and to get uncomfortable in my life in 2014 instead of worshiping comfort like so many of us do (and like I’ve been doing for years). In this quest, I’ve been reading every book I can find about Jesus in an effort to know him, to walk with him, and to draw near to his heart. The most recent one I read is Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge…and it completely rocked my world. It shines the light on various aspects of Jesus’s character that you might have never thought of before: His playfulness. His sense of humor. His radical devotion to truth. His beauty. His loving nature. His fierce intention.  And it made me fall in love with him about a million times more than I already am.

One of the things that John talks about in the book is how Jesus longs to communicate with us and to “be himself” with us by ministering to us and speaking to us on our level. He literally longs for our company, our friendship, our companionship. And toward the end of the book, John encourages you to ask God to show up and communicate with you in a way that you will understand. I think people tend to forget that Jesus shines just as brightly through a beautiful sunset, a newborn baby, or a song lyric that speaks to our hearts in a special way as he does through scripture or burning bushes or talking donkeys. He doesn’t have to manifest in front of us and sit down to dinner for it to be a powerful encounter. So I decided to follow John’s advice and said a simple prayer, asking God to show me a sign of his love in a way that I would understand. Then I closed the book and got ready for bed.

As I always do right before I fall asleep, I grabbed my phone to check Twitter and Facebook one more time, and as I scrolled through my Facebook friend requests, one caught my eye. The person’s profile picture was one of Jesus! I clicked on their profile to examine it more closely and that’s when I saw that on their cover photo, emblazoned in big lettering, was the phrase “Love of God.” (The full screenshot of the friend request appears at the top of this blog.) And all I could do was laugh. I laughed long and hard, and then I cried, and then I laughed again. Not five minutes before, I had asked God to reveal himself and his love for me in a way that I would understand, and he sends me this beautiful image of Jesus topped by the words “Love of God” in the form of a FB friend request! Now, obviously I know the friend request was not literally from God (LOL!) but the imagery that appeared on that person’s profile at that very moment through that very friend request was beyond coincidental. Particularly since social media is pretty much my “love language.” And the thing I have to wonder is…how many times before has God wanted to communicate his love for me in sweet, simple ways such as this…or even in big, GRAND ways…and I was too blind or busy or prideful to see?

It filled my heart with joy, and I went to sleep that night with a big smile on my face and the knowledge that I was loved. There’s no other feeling in the world like the feeling that you are LOVED, is there?

I urge you today, now, this moment…to ask God to reveal himself to you in a way that you will understand. Because he wants to. Badly. He wants to show up and be present and be let into your life. He wants to be your FRIEND.

Go ahead. He’s waiting. Accept his friend request.

Has God spoken to you in a funny, sweet, simple, or even GRAND way lately? Sound off in the comments below!

You can purchase Beautiful Outlaw below.