He is With You

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." Zephaniah 3:17

God rejoices over his children, and I said last week this is not just a truth to be acknowledged but a reality to be celebrated! Part of the immediacy of this reality is that God is in your midst.  The NIV says "The Lord your God is with you."  He's not just off in 'spirit-land', sitting on clouds some place we mortals cannot access.  No, God is here.  My boys have been watching the movie Land Before Time where the dinosaurs sing a silly song about having an "Imaginary Friend."  Well, God is no imaginary friend.  He's real, and He's with us! David acknowledged, "If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there." My older brother Matt recently sent me one of his journal entries from February 6th about his young daughter Ellee's (age 3) recent awareness of God.  I was so inspired by it that I got his permission to share it with all of you.

This afternoon when I went to put Ellee down for her nap, something very amazing and encouraging happened. As I was lying there next to her in her bed, I noticed what appeared to be a sad look on her face. I said, “honey, don’t be sad.” She said in reply, “I’m not sad. I’m praying to God… of Heaven.” I don’t know if that meant she was praying to herself - in her heart - to God about Heaven or was simply telling me that He was the God who is in Heaven. Either way, it was a very cool thing to hear. From there, I said, “it’s good to pray to God honey. He is in heaven, but he’s also here with you. Do you want me to pray with you?” She said, “yes.” I then waited for her to pray. She said nothing (at least not audibly). I then begin to say a few words out loud as she followed. That didn’t last too long until she said, “God walks in my room.” I couldn’t tell if that was a statement or a question, but I said, “yes”. Then she asked, “is He here?” As she pointed to the open space next to her on the bed. I answered, “you can’t see Him but yes, He is there also. God is everywhere and He wants to be with you always and in your heart if you want Him to. He is in Heaven, down here with us, in your room, on your bed, etc.” She then smiled. I then said to her with tears in my eyes, “Ellee, you make me smile and you make God smile. You make God happy. You make me happy. God loves you very much and so do I.” I then hugged her and said, “God hugs you just like this. He loves you.” Then after a while she finally went to sleep… but only after time and time again she asked me to "stay!" as I tried to get up to go take my nap in my bed. She put her hand on my forehead and pushed me back down on the pillow, as if to say (as she does every time I try to leave her as she’s going down for a nap or at night), “Stay, you can’t go yet. I need you here with me.” God is working in Ellee’s little heart; I am sure of it. Thank you Father.