God's Love Song - What She Said Part 14 - Week 6 Day 1

TODAY'S TREASURE

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 ESV

Transcript

God’s Love Song

Sharon W. Betters

Today’s Treasure

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 ESV

Dear Friends, 

Ann Swindell, Help & Hope podcast guest I Didn’t Sign Up for This – When Peace Feels Impossible and founder of Writing with Grace, introduced me to Rosann Coulon when I asked her if she could recommend some of her students as guest writers for Daily Treasure. I’m so grateful to Ann for this connection. Rosann not only wrote a week’s devotions but also joined me as a guest on the Help & Hope podcast, Hidden Wounds and Scars – Is There Hope?

I loved connecting with Rosann and am especially touched by her desire for God’s children to recognize and revel in God’s perfect and unending love for each of His children. In fact, she longs for this so much, she recently wrote 40 Days to God, My Father: Finding Shelter in the Heart of God.

Rosann shares four of the devotions from her book, finishing the week with the message that God’s love goes into the valleys with us, and even in those seasons when we feel set apart from all we wish to do and experience, the Lord hears when we call to Him (Psalm 4:3b). 

In Tuesday’s devotional, Rosann writes: 

“In my finite mind, I cannot come close to understanding God’s love for me. I’ve even doubted it at times—and questioned it when His presence felt hidden in fogs of hardship.

But the words of King David in Psalm 139:17-18 are what I set my mind on: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

God thinks of me—one who is insignificant, unworthy, and incapable of any good thing apart from His help—and this boggles my mind. King David expresses how he’s blown away by the love of God for him—each morning he continuously awakes to the steadfast love of God.”

Friend, we have a personal—and conscious—Father who has us on His mind. He never forgets where we are, leaves us alone, or stops working on our behalf.

May your heart rejoice in the fact that your Heavenly Father always has you on His mind and loves you with no end in sight! You are precious to Him. May your heart rest in this truth.

Rosann wraps up our week on Saturday with this message:

“After another fitful night of sleep, my physical forecast for that day appeared the same as the long stretch of days preceding it: sprinkled with gloom and containing a splash of doom.

Years had passed since my diagnosis of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I had expected an up-turn in my health by this point, yet the symptoms had worsened. Muscle pain, headaches, and insomnia robbed my ability to participate in the simplest tasks. Swaddled in my bed linens, I prayed: “Lord, what’s my purpose here?”

No matter what words I prayed––or how long––heaven was silent to my pleas for deliverance. Looking back on that season of my life, the words of Psalm 4:3a rush to my mind: “Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself.”

King David penned these words while running from his son, Absalom, and his cohorts. Absalom ordered the death of his father because Absalom desired the throne of Israel for himself. It was David’s rightful position––assigned to him by the Lord to oversee the welfare of His people. But David’s enemy was hot on his trail.

After fleeing his kingdom, David found himself “set apart.” He was separated from his calling, his people, and his expectations. I imagine he––like me––wondered what God was up to, the purpose of his trial, and when the Lord would answer his prayers for rescue.

Perhaps you’re wrestling with the same questions. Maybe sickness, grief, financial hardship, or infertility has left you feeling far from the place where you know you could serve a purpose if given the chance. Instead, it seems life is passing by without your contribution.

During that period when it seemed like God had placed me on life’s shelf, I learned that sometimes the Lord will separate us from doing, so He can teach us lessons in being––simply being with Him. Our Father wants us to be confident in Him––His presence, provision, and power––not in what we can do for Him (or anyone else).”

Friends, whether you need a sweet reminder of God’s love for you through your relationship to Jesus or you are in a wilderness, feeling set aside by circumstances beyond your control or because of personal limitations or even mistakes on your part, it’s our prayer Rosann’s message of God love will take you deeper into His heart and enable you to experience His peace and grace where ever He has placed you.

Treasured by Him,

Sharon

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Rosann wrote 40 Days to God, My Father: Finding Shelter in the Heart of God as a way of reminding us that God is the wonderful Father each of us desperately needs. Whether your relationship with your physical father is or was painful or it was one that made you feel safe, our understanding of God as our Father will help steady us when life is hard or easy and joyful.

Check out Rosann’s book as a way of spending a few minutes for the forty days, reveling in the love of your Heavenly Father.

PRAYER

Lord, we can never know enough about who You are, especially when life doesn’t turn out the way we expected. Sometimes, our questions go deep as we try to reconcile what we have “always believed” with the reality of life. Remembering Your love and grace can help steady us when there are no satisfying answers and the only answer You give is, “Trust me.” To trust anyone requires knowing them. May we endeavor to know You more and more.