*** I actually wrote this three years ago but never posted it. Whatever you are going through, know the Father knows, too. He is actually giving you everything you need to get through whatever season you find yourself. May His goodness simply astound you!
In my dream, I was sick.
I couldn’t stop coughing, and I was in need wherever I was. I then fell asleep and dreamed inside a dream. “Father, please send somebody to bring me some cough syrup.”
As I woke up in my dream, I went about my business outside of whatever building I was in. One of my first college friends walked up to me. She held out her hands, and there was a bottle. “The Lord asked me to give you this cough syrup.”
I started crying and told her, “Do you realize that I dreamt I prayed last night for this, and here you are.”
As I awoke in my actual 24-hour life, I realized Father had given me a message.
He hears. He hears my pain and disappointments, and He hears yours too.
Minutes later, as the early morning sun streamed through my window, I checked my email, and my heart plunged upon reading the words of one of them. Yet Father was holding me close with His warm, everlasting presence. I could spiritually sense the exchange of his peace, comfort, and joy for my pain.
I grasped the email on my phone and offered it to Father with open hands. “Dad, this is yours. I give it to you and accept the gift of your presence in this. It’s so much better. This I can live without. Your peace, I cannot. Take it and do what you wish.”
The disappointment and regret lifted from me, and that familiar slimy coat of shame did not plague me. Praise God!
Even before I knew I needed Father's presence in that difficult moment, He knew. He offered me what I needed before I even knew I needed it.
It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen. Isaiah 65:24
How do we get rid of the pain, despair, and hopelessness?
We do so with a simple five-letter word that used to scare the living bajeebies out of me not too long ago.
T. R. U. S. T.
In the simple faith of a child who depends upon a parent, ‘come what may,’ we get to trust the presence of Another greater than ourselves.
We must believe in the depths of our soul that Father has exchanged each and every one of our hurts for His loving peace, His abiding comfort, and His glorious joy. It’s undoubtedly an exchange I’d rather have.
You too?
If you’d like to talk further, contact me by email, and I would be happy to walk you through this.
Oh, how our God is a Father of exchanges. It just about takes my breath away.
Glory!
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Aleisha