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The 'GOD BOX'

Many years ago I attended a twelve step convention in Rhode Island where I heard the keynote speaker that year refer to something called the 'God Box.' This was the place within herself that she tried to put all sorts of things to quell the hunger for something (anything) she had her throughout her life. Sometimes it would be cars, money, sex or anything else that was both quick but temporary at the same time. Eventually, after heartache upon heartache, she came to the conclusion that the only thing that fit in that box was God. It took much time and experience with emptiness for her to get there. She then said that she had no regrets for the things she did and the painful life she had to live to get to the place where she was at. It was that worth it.

Have you ever tried on a pair of shoes that was too large for your feet and then walked around in them for a while? What happens is that they rub against your foot and eventually make you very uncomfortable as you contend with the burning irritation that develops. Such it is with the things that are not God when we try to put them in the box as substitutes.

I had an empty 'God Box' of my own that I constantly tried filling with things that were not Him. They always left me with that insatiable hunger that all addicts know. I was taught that I could make a beginning with God by first acknowledging that there was one and He wasn't me! What a simple, yet profound revelation!

I hope that the reader may find what it is that he or she is looking for to fill the emptiness, the void, the God Box --whatever you have come to call it.


I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God. -Ephesians 3:16-19 (Good News Translation)

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