“Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.” Psalm 119:90 (NIV)
God loves us. Each one of us. If you were the only person alive, God would still have sent Jesus to die in your place so that you could have a relationship with Him. That’s how much He loves each one of us. Completely. Totally. Personally.
God has been inviting me on a journey of learning how to make that knowledge heart knowledge instead of just head knowledge. You know, the kind of lesson that sticks, where “you know that you know that you know,” even on days where the enemy tries to distract you or make you think otherwise.
Because He’s so personal, He uses a variety of ways to get my attention and I love it. I’ve spoken before about the significance of deer for me. While I know it’s spring and deer are out in abundance right now, God has been showing me them when I least expect it, but when I need it most. I love that.
I’ve been talking lately about the inconveniences we recently experienced as a family. We’ve had a chance to catch up on sleep before we face an extremely busy week coming up. I went to bed fine last night, peaceful and tired enough to sleep through the night. However, I was jolted awake at 3 AM this morning, afraid. I wasn’t even sure what I was afraid of. I asked God to tell me if He wanted me to pray for a specific person. Nope. Didn’t get a positive response to that. I got up and checked my email in case He had a message for me about someone that way and nope, all was quiet. So I went back to bed, but still couldn’t sleep. My mind was racing a mile a minute and all kinds of things to be afraid of were spinning around. Things that were possibilities as well as things that weren’t.
However, the whole time my mind was racing, a particular song was also vying for my attention. Only the chorus was playing through my mind, so I decided to combat the “worries” with singing the song. Instead of dwelling on the “what ifs” I chose to sing silently in my head (I didn’t figure Bill would appreciate getting serenaded at 3:30 AM by this time). I never did go back to sleep but singing that song reminded me of my blessings and I woke up “happy” in my Father’s love and my husband’s physical arms.
My day was busy. After dropping off all three kids, I had a few errands I needed to run and I turned on the radio since I was alone in the car. The exact song of the chorus that had been repeating through my mind this morning at 3 AM was playing on the radio which gave me a chance to hear all the words. The words spoke about having God’s peace through crippling fear and being safe in God’s arms the whole time.
I love how personal He is. He didn’t have to reassure me at 3 AM when I couldn’t sleep. He didn’t have to woo me with a love song, inviting me to sing along until I felt His peace, chose to see the amazing blessings He has lavished on our family or thanked Him for always being there. He didn’t have to but He chose to. Because our Father never quits loving us, blessing us, protecting us, being there for us. He never leaves us… because He never quits.
© Cheri Swalwell 2017