PODCAST

Abba Father, Daddy

All God’s Children

This goes out to all of God’s children!

As my children grew up over the years, we would have opportunity to explain to them the thing of family. Our home was always open, maybe I should say our car was always full as we more often seemed to be traveling from one ball field to another. It didn’t take long to realize our expectations of our family were not the same in other’s families.

And that’s ok. In our home, it was understood what and why we acted and responded in certain ways. Soon it became just as clear to our kids that everyone around our table were not part of our family. Therefore, they did not abide by the same standards as did we. Makes sense, right?

Every one of the people we’ve had in our home (or car) have been met with and treated with the same worthiness and loving hospitality as the next, and because they were youth, the same caring shield of authority while in our care. Yet, they didn’t live with the same expectation we had of our own children nor did we love them as we love our own.

Not Part of the Family

Simply, they were not part of the family.

The outside world gets this wrong in Christianity, too. We are not all God’s children. Though He created us all in His image and desires a relationship-by way of the great cost and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus- just being born into this world does not buy us into the family of God.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13

Abba Father

Maybe this is a term of endearment, Daddy, as some scholars have said. Or, possibly it’s a reverent respect to exactly who God is: FATHER, FATHER.

Did you ever see the movie Dead Poet’s Society? To show their unconventional professor a proclamation of their great respect, several of the patrician young men rise in turn, each one standing tall atop their desks: left foot, stomp; right foot, stomp.

One by one they turn toward him as he continues his forced departure. His hand on the door knob, their beloved teacher pauses to turn back for one last glimpse of his boys. As he does, with great emotion and trembling they echo one another in their endearing final salute: O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain! is taken from a 1865 poem, whose title is the same, written about President Lincoln’s death penned by Walt Whitman. Then and any time its lyric is borrowed, though written as a funeral song, the standing theme is one of deep respect.

Jesus calls out to Abba Father

And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:36

Father, Father

In the New Testament, Abba is always followed by Father. It’s an endearing, respectful, call to our Heavenly Father: Abba Father= Father Father, likewise, Daddy Father.

Part of the Family

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”s

Galatians 4:6

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

Adoption

Adoption, not slavery. Freedom, not bondage. Praise Abba Father!

Unlike all the wonderful people who’ve at some point graced my life by their presence, to know God is to be part of His family. We have the honor of calling Him, Daddy: Abba Father.

Going way back, I remember the song lyrics: I’m so glad to be part of the family of God. I wonder if anyone still sings that song?

Long ago the Gaithers recorded it on 8-track, (sorry if I lost some of you here!) and it was one my parent’s favorites to play in the car, rendering my brothers and I their captive audience.

I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the family,
The Family of God.

Family of God by The Gaithers

First comes our adoption into God’s family, and then we call Him Daddy; Abba Father.

I hope you know Him, and if you don’t, please reach out to someone in your church, a friend, or just start reading in John 3 and talk with the Lord. He wants to be your Abba Father, too.

PODCAST

Jehovah, I Am

Because I said so

“Because I said so.” Oh my goodness, I couldn’t begin to count the number of times my mother responded with those four words when I dared question her. In my own home, my husband has echoed much the same to our children, but from his point of view, “Because she is your mother.”

Like one of my children, I too was not shy of asking questions of my parents. Every day I still question many things and search for answers. Much of them are now from the Lord and His Word.

I’ll admit to spitting out a negative tone from my heart with the why’s battling against Mom’s good intentions, but today these questions come by God’s grace and from a maturing, devoted heart to the Lord. It is a good thing.

Moses had a lot of question for the Lord, too.

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” 

“Here I am,” he answered.

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. 

Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” “I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”

Exodus 3:1-13

Questions

Every mother of a toddler or preschooler knows questions can be endless. We’ve all been there. Young children don’t seem to tire of firing a long string of questions, do they?

The best of mothers can grow weary from the effort it takes in just hearing all of them let alone answering them.

Inquiring Minds

Even as inquisitive adults, myself included, some of us regularly trade sleep for quizzical thoughts and fill our minds with quests before our morning feet hit the floor, and as our days grow, nothing seen or heard is exempt from starting another trail of questions leaving answers to be found out. You know, inquiring minds!

Silence

However, I’m not sure I, or any of us, having walked in Moses’s shoes would be able to form a solid word after what he had just lived through. Silence or even shocked half to death may have been a more understandable response.

God had a job for him

Yet, God knew him through and through, and He chose Moses specifically to accomplish exactly His plan for the Israelites. Despite Moses’ questions, God had a job for Him.

What ifs

I love that God allowed Moses to ask Him the what ifs. Moses was pretty important in the work of the Lord for his time, and it makes me feel better, as if my own thoughts when God gives me a job to do are sort of endorsed here in Moses’ life; he had questions just like I do. I bet I’m in like company here… am I right?

Had Moses not asked these questions, how would we know I Am?

I Am

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

Exodus 3:14-15

Jehovah

Here we have the Hebrew name for LORD (which is the most used throughout the Bible), Jehovah, Yahweh. I AM. Jehovah God the, I AM.

It is enough

You and I know exactly what my mother was telling me in her words, “Because I said so.”

My children fully understood what their father means when he says, “Because she is your mother.”

We heard those simple words, we fully understood, and every time in our personal uncertainty we responded in retreat followed by silence, why?

It is enough to be Mom (or Dad).

Jehovah I AM. God told Moses to answer the Israelites in a bit of the same manner. The answer is, I AM…and that is everything, enough and all we need or could need. I AM.

I AM enough

All of your what ifs? What are they today? What are you facing in your heart personally that helps garner your own list of questions? Write them out and look at them. I have my own, too. I’ll wait here…

Now, Read through them.

Next, share them with the Lord. Tell Him you have these questions and how they’re making your feel scared, uncertain, defeated, unworthy, unprepared, or whatever you’re feeling.

Jehovah I AM

Now, just like Moses learned about His God, we affirm in our lives today knowing God is never changing and always the same. We know we can go to Him with our questions desireing to hear from and follow Him.

So, go with complete confidence, stay with the Lord wherever He has you and wherever He will be taking you. Don’t go ahead of Him, stay right here in today! And remember who He is: Jehovah God, Jehovah I AM.

I AM enough

For each of our what if’s, HE is I AM. He is enough. Rest there, friend, and live your life confidently in Jehovah I Am.

PODCAST

Messiah, The Christ

He Found the Messiah!

He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).

John 1:41

Here, as soon as Andrew learns he has been with Jesus, The Messiah, he seeks out to find his own brother and brings him back to meet Jesus. That is a whole other chapter to write, right there!

He meets The Messiah and wastes no time finding his brother to introduce him to Jesus. This is the way most of us find the Lord, someone introduces us to Him.

Do you remember who introduced you to Jesus Christ? Are you, and am I, seeking out others to introduce them to our Messiah? Oh how the world needs to meet Him.

She Found the Messiah!

Andrew went and found his brother; he brought him face to face with the Messiah, with Christ (there’s just something about that name: Christ!).

There was a certain woman at the well, and she also found the Messiah!

First, let’s read the entire scripture from the fourth chapter of John. This is from the American Standard Version.

When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs pass through Samaria. So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said unto unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Disciples were Speechless

And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people, Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ? They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.

Samaritans Believe

And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his word; and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.

John 4:1-42

Don’t Go There

Jews didn’t go where Samaritans were. It wasn’t permitted and they didn’t get along together. It was bad news. Following a youth event, my husband was -per the norm- taking one of the teens home. He was pretty much orphaned, for all intents and purposes, living somewhere among the city projects, without a ride, this young man would have to walk a long way in the cold. I’d have to ask again to know if it was day or dark, regardless, when they pulled through the neighborhood the teenager told my husband to duck down because it wasn’t safe for him to be there with him. Problem was, he was driving and couldn’t really hide himself or his car. If you’ve ever lived in a city where a gang has claimed territory, you know how volatile it can be to be on the wrong turf. Just don’t go there.

The Samaritans and the Jews rivalry was just that, it wasn’t a mere preference; they hated one another.

I love how scripture acknowledges all that it means for Jewish Jesus to be walking the “wrong” path in verse 4: He had to go through Samaria on the way.

Man at the Well

Not only was Christ on the wrong path, He was in the wrong place. A man at the well wouldn’t be there to draw water. But Jesus was tired from all His walking and He physically needed a drink of fresh water, and He needed it badly.

So, He waited. But this wasn’t happenstance, He knew who was coming. He was waiting for her. Without relinquishing His physical need for some water, He had an eternally life changing message for her-this certain woman.

Woman at the Well

If I could show up here with nothing said prior, give everyone a notecard and pen, then ask you to write down the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear, “The woman at the well,” what would you write?

I can tell you what most first think when they hear this title and it concentrates on her adultery; the fact that she’d had so many husbands and was not married to the man she was living with now. And, I can’t fault anyone there, because that seems to be exactly who meets Christ at the well.

A Thirsty Jew

There’s Christ sitting on Jacob’s well, a thirsty Jew. Not only should He not have been in Samaria, He shouldn’t have been at the well, and He certainly shouldn’t have been speaking to a Samaritan woman. But He was. Jesus wasn’t about societal norms, ever.

Jesus Wasn’t About Societal Norms

–Hey, let’s be sure to make note of that in this day and age; as we desire to become more like Christ we’re going to be walking the same path against society’s approval just as He did here.

If we desire to become more like Christ we’re going to have to walk against society’s approval.

tamara henion

Back at the Well

Now back at the well, He asks her for a drink. She is taken aback, as to be expected, but what happens next shakes up her world.

Why was a Jewish man at the well? She knew things were not as they should be.

To her rebuttal, Jesus tells her it’s actually her own error in need of adjustment. While Jesus desired a drink of water for His body’s sake, in fact, she was in the greatest need. That’s what He was doing there; HE had just what she needed.

Questions

Ms. Samaritan was asking a lot of questions, most of them perfectly normal and acceptable considering the circumstances:

• Why is a Jew asking me for water?
• Why is it you have nothing to draw from this deep well; so where is this living water You’re going to give me?
• Are you greater than Jacob who gave us, and drank from, this very well?

Jesus isn’t uncomfortable with her questions and He answers them with the truth that still stands today:

Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.

John 4:13-14

She’s Convinced

Ok, hand it over, she’s convinced and ready to drink of this water Jesus has to offer.

The Samaritan woman first sees Jesus’ offer of eternal life like so many of us see salvation today: it sounds perfect, I’ll take it! But Jesus doesn’t just invite her to drink up, does He?

I want to be careful and clear here, I’m not adding to scripture, I’m not saying we have a penance or cost to pay where eternal life is concerned, (we don’t!), but I am pointing out, what happens here in the first person account with The Messiah at the Well.

Jesus could have ignored the truth of who she was, left it alone to be only her secret, (because, no matter, He loved her!). He could have simply showered her with His eternal life, His everlasting water and left it at that, but He didn’t. Why not?

Who are You?

Jesus knew who she was… of course. Yet, He persisted.

Verse 16: Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The Bible doesn’t indicate any hesitation in her response. Actually, she settles deeper into the conversation the two of them had been having to this point and seems to fully reveal who she is. I don’t see anyone else in the New Testament who Jesus has this long of a one on one conversation with, and this one must have fostered some sort of comfort in her.

As if talking to a Jewish man at Jacob’s well wasn’t bad enough, she was about to tell Him the secrets of her life that were no small consideration in Ancient Samaria. I would surmise that she was trusting of this man at the well of whom she had no earthly reason-either in her community or in her flesh- to trust.

And so she lays it all out: there is no husband to go get, not even the man she was living with currently.

When Jesus realizes her honesty here and reveals the rest of her story of past marriages to her, she knows He is not just some man. Unsure of who He is, she supposed Him to be a prophet.

Who am I?

How does He know so much about her? In her surprise we hear, “Who ARE you?”

Isn’t that just like us? Don’t we also look from the outside when our own sin is on the line? Could she have instead said, “Who am I…what am I doing living like this?”

“It would have been better if she had perceived that she was a sinner.”

Spurgeon

Nevertheless, their ongoing conversation isn’t over yet. Jacob’s Well? Her ancestors mountain? Jesus tells her that it’s not on that mountain where followers of Christ would find Him and truly worship.

She leaned in closer and listened.

Jesus succinctly wraps up their long visit:

God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”

Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.

John 4:24-26, 28-30

No Secrets

We kid ourselves to think we have any secrets from God. With Him there are no secrets.

HE knew all about her. Now that her eyes had been open to her own sin, she understood who she had been talking with. The Messiah, Christ!

The Messiah, Christ

She went running back to everyone she knew and proclaimed all she knew of Him, personally. Many of them came to the Messiah because of her testimony of what He’d done in her life, because she shared who she knew Him to be.

And when they met Christ the Messiah personally, they too believed.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

John 4:39-42

Share Christ

Like Andrew finding his brother and brining him to Christ, Ms. Samaritan went right away back to those she knew and shared the Messiah with them.

What they reported was immediate, earnest, and urgent, but yet it was a simple witness. Neither of them made Jesus out to be someone He wasn’t, and they didn’t have to defend who He was.

All they did was bring others to Him by sharing with them what they’d witnessed and known of Him in their own lives; He was enough.

Jesus’ words and His person stood alone. We need to remember that as we share Christ. He is still the Christ, Messiah, and He will always stand alone. Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ Messiah

He stands worthy. He stands anointed. There at the well He stood Jesus Messiah foretold for thousands of years…she was waiting for Him, and now, she was present with Him in the flesh.

 Messiah comes from the Hebrew word mashiach and means “anointed one” or “chosen one.” The Greek equivalent is the word Christos or, in English, Christ. The name “Jesus Christ” is the same as “Jesus the Messiah.

Gotquestions (https://www.gotquestions.org/what-does-Messiah-mean.html)

Convinced of our Sin

Before we see Christ Messiah, we need to recognize our sin, just as the women at the well did.

When we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we need to share Him just as she taught us, too. But we should be cautious not to meddle in the business of Christ.

Though we should willingly and proudly share who He is and what He has done in our lives, just as this certain woman at the well taught us to.

But, we should not try to do His job. Just as He did with the Samaritan woman here, He will convict others of their sin and their need of a Savior.

We are just to share Him with others. His Heavenly Father will bring them to Himself, the anointed and chosen One: Jesus Christ the Messiah.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

John 6:44

Find, Know and Wait for the Messiah

The woman at the well was waiting for Christ the Messiah, and she found Him. If you don’t know Him, isn’t it time? He’s waiting for you.

If you know the Lord, you’re my Sister in Christ, let us often remember, we’re waiting for the Messiah. He’s coming again.

Find Him. Know Him. Look for Him. Wait for Him.

Friends, this, finding, knowing an waiting on Christ the Messiah IS what living is all about. Praise the Lord for this beautiful life He’s given to us.

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalm 7:17

PODCAST

El Shaddai, God Almighty

That’s 1000% correct! (But that isn’t.)

In our finite minds we say and think things that just are far from what is real, so very often. We just have to start here: when anything whole gets to one HUNDRED percent, it’s all there is. There is no more. I get the desire to want an emphasis on ALL, but 100% encompasses everything there is possible to that one whole thing: 100%, ALL. When we are considering one whole something or someone, nothing beyond 100% is possible, and that’s important to realize. ALL: Everything of any and each whole thing.

Sufficient

I looked through an online thesaurus for help explaining the word sufficient, this divine kind of sufficiency , and I read word after word: ample, bountiful, generous, prolific, abounding, chock-full, plenty, lavish… and while each term offers a glimpse of the truth here, I kept coming up short.

sufficient

adjective

adequate for the purpose; enough: sufficient proof; sufficient protection.

dictionary.com

The Missing Part

Then I went back to God’s Word, verse after verse and read again and again of El Shaddai, and then it hits me. I get it now. The missing part in my quest was in that little three letter word, a-l-l. El Shaddai, All Sufficient God. When we put all and sufficient, together, we’re left with: 100% of everything needed for the purpose.

Almighty God, El Shaddai, shows up much over the Old Testament.

When almost 100 years old, Abram’s faith is fortified again to walk with All Mighty God.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.

Genesis 17:1

And Isaac admonishes The All Mighty’s blessings over Jacob:

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people

Genesis 28:3

El Shaddai, Almighty God returns to Jacob with promise of His blessings:

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,  but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. ” So he named him Israel.And God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.…

Genesis 35:10-11

The Lord refers to Himself as the one they knew: God Almighty, El Shaddai and then introduces Himself as Jehovah, (Yahweh):

God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

Exodus 6:2-3

And He gives us the promise of El Shaddai for all our todays:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

And I love this definition from Biblehub:

God Almighty – אל שדי El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, the Outpourer and Dispenser of mercies

biblehub

Dispenser of Mercies

I’m going to encourage you to pause this podcast or your reading here in a minute. Get ahold of your phone’s note app, or grab a paper and pen. Ask the Lord to clear your mind of everything else for a couple of minutes and start jotting down some of the struggles you’ve known in the recent, or not so recent, past.

All Sufficient

See? I’m conflicted here to list my own, those of people I care most about or just to let the Holy Spirit sit with you over your own list…yes, I think I’ll do that. So, my loving encouragement is this, look over each thing you wrote down and search through each one.

Somehow, through the toughest places in your life, can you realize the outpouring of mercies and can see the presence of Almighty God, El Shaddai? Don’t go on until your heart can revisit for a moment and remember the goodness of God in your pain. I praise the Lord that He is indeed all sufficient, and always faithful to be so.

In A Heartbeat

Maybe because I’m getting older, but there’s no shortage of valley walk times that come to mind. Going way back, I wasn’t yet 30 years old, that would come right after my firstborn’s birth, after trying for five or so years, we were finally pregnant.

(My husband went to my prenatal appointments with me, and at the first one my OB looked across his desk and said him, “Don’t say, ‘We’re pregnant,’ because YOU are not,” but to us, we were-therefore the “we.”)

Things sure can change in a heartbeat, can’t they? There we were, excited and, well, the me part of we was pretty sick. Ugh, those days were long, and I bet many of you can relate. We went in for an early ultrasound because I’d been bleeding pretty badly.

Then, after all the prodding, the turning of the screen and her head, the sonographer decided to speak.

No Heartbeat

Right this minute I can again hear the hollow echo of the room bouncing her words back and forth rapidly between my ears and my pounding heart, “There’s no heartbeat; the baby is not viable. Come back in three weeks.”

All I remember in my shock and disbeliefe is asking her how I could be so sick if the baby wasn’t growing. Maybe I never even vocalized the thought.

Somehow I left the hospital walking on my own two feet, and I’m sure my husband’s hand was tightly wrapped around my own. You couldn’t have convinced me that the hallways didn’t grow longer, and the parking lot didn’t move farther away as we put managed to walk away, one step in front of another.

I never knew how long three weeks could be. But I was about to learn more than I’d ever known about El Shaddai, my Almighty God, 100% of everything needed for the purpose.

Turns out, that little heartbeat was rapidly blinking away when I lay on that table 3 weeks later. It was the miracle we’d prayed for, and through each long day Almighty God was there with me. I’m thankful to this day-and every day-for that moment some 27 years ago.

Right from the start, that boy stole my heart!

Almighty in the Valleys

However, as I told you, I’m getting older and you can bet your life that mine has been tested in these years gone by. Sometimes, my miracle came in a much different way than I’d desperately prayed, but the overwhelming mercies El Shaddai, Almighty Lord gave met in the valleys are just as precious to my heart and to my faith.

I don’t know if you’re hiding under the shadow of His wings or singing the praises of overwhelming mercies barreling all around you right now, but I do know this. God is all sufficient; 100% of what we need, He is, every time.

He is to not going to leave us alone. He is not going to come up short. And He is able this day as He was when talking to Abram thousands of years ago to fulfill His promises to us as we abide in Him.

Abide

Abide is a verb. It means the subject has to participate. No matter where you find yourself, abiding in Him is where we need to be. Meet Him at the foot of the cross and in the shadow of the Almighty-Come on! Let’s go.

Run…crawl, or whatever you need to do, and get there to the secret place of the most high: Abide in Almighty God. Be still. Rest. Believe. Wait. Refresh. Remind yourself of this word and the truth:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty

Psalm 91:1

Abide right there, always, in the shadow of El Shaddai, God Almighty.