Back in 2007-2008, it was a season of life where so many things had happened and I was struggling. Hope was dwindling with the death of people who brought so much joy into my life. It starting when my Poppy went to sleep and then didn’t wake up, Aunt Janice had passed away, a few months later my Uncle Dennis, and we miscarried a pregnancy. It was already the hardest time and it wasn’t done but right in the middle we got pregnant with our son. He was born in the beginning of 2008 just a few months before a flood that displaced us out of our home for 4 months. In the first few days after it stopped raining and as the flood was receding, there was a lady on the news that said words that my soul clung to for hope. It was as if the Lord were speaking a message directly to me. She said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!” These words held my soul while we waited, while we rebuilt, and while we moved back into the mess. These word hang in the entrance of our home as a reminder of those coming and going that He is with them.

My son who was born in the middle of my hardest days, has all his life been made it seemed with a superpower to not cling to what’s would seem hard. There isn’t much that can stop him from trying something new. It’s as if he was made to run head long into hope believing he could. His first sentences were, “I’m awake now, Mom! and I can do it!”

Pastor Chad asked another question that caught my attention, “Have you forgotten that God is already there in your tomorrow?” Remember how I said that the words “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!” hang in the entrance of our home as a reminder of those coming and going that He is with them. I realized as I hear my Pastor speak those words that through these past couple years, through covid, my Grammy passing away, my Grandma losing her memory and forgetting us, those I loved moving away, and others moving out. Somewhere along the line, I had forgotten. And the Lord even reminded me. In June, I was reading a book called The Deeper Life by A.W. Tozer. This is when I started to feel the strain and stress of what I had been walking through. I found that I had made this blog a place of work, not a place to roam and discover what God is doing through the writing process. It really is one of my happy places. I sensed a called to read the word more intentionally and to set aside time to pray. I began to pray and write through psalms. Right there in this restart place I wrote in my journal this call to remembrance:

“If you were to be suddenly transferred to heaven itself you wouldn’t be any closer to God that you are now, for God is already here!”

A.W. Tozer

Isn’t that exactly what we need to remember? It’s right there in the words you just read, the hope we have been looking for this Advent season is the hope that we don’t have to work harder to be closer, but rather that He is already close because He is already here. Have we forgotten: God with us! Emmanuel!

This needing to remember is exactly why Jesus came. He knew we would walk through a desert wasteland of life and become thirsty and hungry. He knew we would wander and flounder alone while looking for what only He can give all the days of our lives. He knew we wouldn’t even understand the emptiness would drive us to use and substitute Him with anything we could get our hands and hearts on. We would do this and still do this because we forget that hope is already here. God with us! Emmanuel!

Lord, let hope come and be birthed right in the middle of all my days, so that I can say, “I’m awake now, and anything You asks of me to do, I can do it, because I don’t have to worry about tomorrow, You are already here!”

All is grace,

Starla