The Lord Your God Is With You

Joshua 1:9-"This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU wherever you go."

Job 37:1-5-"My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me. Listen carefully to the thunder of God's voice as it rolls from His mouth. It rolls across the heavens, and His lightning flashes in every direction. Then comes the roaring of the thunder- the tremendous voice of His majesty. He does not restrain it when He speaks. God's voice is glorious in the thunder. We can't even imagine the greatness of His power."

Once upon a time, there was a man with a fairly happy life. Things were going well with his family, his job was enjoyable and payed well enough, and he had plenty of time to do things relaxing and fun. He was involved in his local church, and knew God well enough to suit him. Some time later, though, he started to have troubles. His father was diagnosed with cancer, he was fighting with his mother and wife constantly, he was struggling at his job, and he started to have horrible nightmares. He questioned God about why he had left him on his own, and stopped going to church. One night he dreamt that he was walking beside God on the seashore. He looked behind him and saw a long line of footprints. At first, there were two sets of footprints alongside each other. The set on the right was slightly bigger than those on the left. After awhile, one set of footprints disappeared. The man was furious in his dream. "Why have you left me, God? Why did you leave me to deal with these hard times on my own? You walked with me before when things were going well, but now you have left me and everything has gone bad!" God turned to the man with love in His eyes. "Look again, my child. The footprints that stopped were your own. The smaller footprints have disappeared. I've been here the whole time silently blessing you and continuing to love you through your hard times. Trust me to help you, and together we can make things right." Suddenly the man woke from his dream. He realized that God had been with him the whole time, and that all he had to do was to trust Him. In a few weeks, the man's life had been turned around, for he now knew that God would never leave him or forsake him.

Romans 8:38-39-"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God knows the deepest parts of your heart, and is always with you. Throughout your life, He will always be waiting for you to open the door to His love. If and when you do, you will never lose Him-ever! If your heart is sincere, He will never give up on you.

Revelation 3:20-"Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends."

1 Corinthians 2:12- "And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us."

-Jenna Hampton
with a story that I have heard many times, rewritten with help from the Alpha and Omega