Don’t you love it when God speaks to you, whether that is through Scripture, other people, songs, or even social media? Over the past couple of days, God has been speaking to me, and my initial response to what He was saying wasn’t excitement; it was bewilderment. 

Yesterday, I was texting one of my closest friends about the upcoming new year, and God laid on my heart to write, “Happy New Year! I hope and pray that this year will be one of healing, growth, and intimacy with the Lord…for both of us!” 

Healing and growth made sense to me; they are measurable. It was the part about intimacy with God that caused me a moment of hesitation, and I asked God if that was really what he wanted me to write. I heard him in my heart answer “yes.” So, I obeyed and typed it, and after I sent it, I felt that familiar excitement that comes from listening to God.

In that moment, I knew that God was already working special plans for this next year, including a profound intimacy that can only be experienced with the One who understands and provides all of our needs.

Later, I checked social media and saw that a friend posted they wanted 2026 to consist of “More intimacy with God.” Then, as I listened to Bethel Music’s song “Surrounded By Holy,” the lyrics, “The more that I enter in, You consume all I am. I lose myself in the One who’s holy,” reminded me of another aspect of intimacy with God…we are called to let go of who we are.

Losing ourselves in Christ is a crucial part of intimacy with him, knowing that “He must become greater” and we “must become less.” (John 3:30, NIV) The more we surrender to the Lord, the more we experience and understand that he is the One who pulls us into his presence, ministering to us in ways that only he can.

Then, and more importantly, God spoke to me through His Word. When God speaks to us through our hearts, in music, and in other ways, it is a beautiful thing. But when we encounter him in the Living Word, we can fully appreciate that every word, passage, and book is his love letter to all people.

The fact is that the more we read the Bible, the more we are in awe and humbled, profoundly knowing these are the words of the One who chooses to speak with us.

That moment of intimacy when reading my Bible happened as I read John 4, when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. In this passage, Jesus reveals to her, a Samaritan, that he is the Messiah. He tells her that he knows about her past and present relationships with men. Yet he nourishes her soul by telling her that he is the refreshing, living water of eternal life. The truth is that her experience with Christ is one we can all have… personal, intimate, and uplifting.

No matter how God speaks to us, each sacred encounter grows our holy reverence and adoration for the One who loves us uniquely, fully, perfectly, and eternally.