Upon relating to a friend of mine over instant messaging my "new" realization of trusting the presence of God vs trusting the protection of God...she related a story to me that I really wanted to share....

Kinda reminds me of a story I heard once from an online friend
 Her father had died after a long struggle with cancer
 he was miserable the last few years of his life
  His life wasn't that good before he got cancer either, he was like a modern day job
Things got REALLY bad when he got the cancer, right?
  and this was a close knit family
  they were all saved, Christian, all that..
but not like, highly religious or anything
 went to church maybe once a month if even that
 Anyway...
the last month was particularly bad.. he was suffering beyond belief
 And the day before he died, the family was under so much stress that they ended up fighting over everything that day
  you know how when things are just so bad, someone blows up and so then does everyone else?
 Well that's what happened.
  Of course over the last few years they had all had some of those moments but they usually kept it quiet from her dad
 so as not to stress him out
  Well this day..
unfortunately... everyone lost control
  One of her sisters was literally screaming outside his door in the hallway
  they were all screaming and crying
  But she was screaming "Where is God right now?! I don't know if God exists or he wouldn't be letting dad suffer!!"
 "Where was God when dad went through this, that, etc"
  "Where is God now?!?!"
So...
 She stormed out of the house
that sister did
my friend and her mother went into the bedroom about 3 or 4 hours later just to sit with the dad
They thought he was unconscious or asleep.
But he said.. with his eyes closed...
 "Tell her God is here with me and has been for a long time"
  "Tell her he's holding my hand, telling me that he has a reason for me being sick before I go"
"that I am going home very soon"
"Tell her God IS here."
he was very insistent
 So.. she came home that evening
  and they told her what all had happened
 The entire family...
this is like 8 people
  minus the dad
 knelt down in the living room together in prayer
 all holding hands
  each one took turns praying
most were "I'm sorry God, for doubting you"
"Please help dad"
 etc
So they go up and visit him that evening, 2 or 3 at a time...
But everytime new people came in..he said "God is here. With me. With you"
 whispered it
  the next morning he'd died in his sleep
 She thinks that part of the reason that God let her dad suffer so long was to get their attention and tell them that he was THERE.. just becuase things weren't perfect doesn't mean he wasn't, but he was there and he was taking care of their dad
but anyway she said ever since, all of them have been much more devout, much more strong in faith
  Because...
 "We aren't going to let our dad's death be in vain. We listened to him."
  **goosebumps**

What stuck out to me was the summary: "Just because things aren't perfect, doesn't mean He isn't here..."

Or that He isn't aware!

It seems to me that if it's important to God to be there with us,

so important that He'd send his son to die a tragic painful death in the most shameful way at that time period (the Cross) in order to bridge the gap of sin so that we would never be apart from Him again... 

then it must be just as important to Him

that we KNOW this,

that we KNOW we are not alone,

that we KNOW He is with us,

that Christ's death was not in vain, it was because He loved us so much He couldn't stand the thought of being without us...

and so, we aren't ever without Him.

Even when

our anger or hurt or fear 

pushes Him away, He still remains.

 He is here with me, and 

He is there with you,

right now.