May the Lord Be With You

It’s May 4th, iconically known as “Star Wars” day. As we are all jokingly telling each other “May the 4th be with you” my blessing and encouragement to you is “May the Lord be with you”. First and foremost, God has actually always been and will always be with you. His presence is omnipresent or “always there”. It took me years to realize what church folks meant when they said “God will never leave you or never forsake you.” It’s because it’s against God’s very nature to do so. Somewhere along the line, I misunderstood the reality of God’s presence and believed He left me. To say the least, there were many aspects of my adolescence that were chaotic. Since entering into adulthood, many aspects of my environment have changed but one thing that remained the same was the question, “God where were you then? Where are you now?'“ The answer is simple. “He’s there.” I have to catch myself from seeing my childhood as “the time when God wasn’t there” and my adulthood as “the time God was there”. He was there. No matter how difficult or joyful the moment, God was right there. He was there when my heart ached from not knowing my worth outside of what I did to make others happy. He was there in all my sinful behaviors —albeit intentional or unintentional. Yet, he was also there when I gleefully experienced freedom in my mind from cyclical lies. See God’s presence is not limited to “feelings” or “highs”, it is a constant that nothing in our human doing can reverse. To some it may be scary to know that God is everywhere, but I want to challenge that. See it as this: Our Father in Heaven, sent His spirit — a friend — to lovingly be with us in the best of the best and worst of the worst. He wants to be involved in every detail of our life that He allows himself to be available at all times. How special is that? All we have to do is embrace it. Once I did, I began to experience constant peace and I want that to be your story too. So today on May 4th, 2024, May the Lord be with you.

Psalm 139: 7 -8

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.