Surrendering to the Reality of His Sovereignty

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Posted by Stephanie Griffin, April 3, 2024

Our son, Brock called us on the Saturday morning of the Palm Sunday weekend. He explained that our 11-month-old grandson, Cade could have possibly ingested their dog’s medicine from the dog bowl.  The prescription Clonidine lowers blood pressure, allowing blood vessels to relax and the heart to beat more slowly. It is great for a 75lb dog, who needs this, however, for a 24lb baby it could be fatal. As Cade began to get sleepy, Brock called 911. Upon arriving at the house, the paramedics didn’t want to let Cade take a nap, since his crying would help keep his blood pressure up. This would buy time for the drug to pass through his system, if he did indeed ingest it. In that phone call, fear paralyzed my heart for a few minutes…my throat started closing up as the tears accumulated.   

My son and his wife were told a counteracting agent could be administered immediately upon arrival, if his blood pressure took a dive. Since he had missed a nap and was agitated, he was kept for observation and continued to be connected to the monitors. The doctor wanted him close by in case they had to administer the shot. He explained that, as long as Cade stayed stable, giving him the shot was not warranted.

I immediately called my son at the hospital and began to pray. No small talk and no opinions from Mom were needed. I went directly to God, the one who loves my son and grandson more than I do. I prayed as if my life depended on it. Every attribute of God came to my mind and I prayed confidently to the One who knows all. He already knew the outcome of this extremely difficult situation. As I prayed, I could feel the Holy Spirit fill me and go before me.

After my son and I hung up, my tears finally fell…you know that ugly cry…I could barely swallow. I fell face forward into the shag rug in my office in surrender. Yet, strangely, an unfamiliar emotion filled me.  I felt like I had to call the prayer team, my Shoulder to Shoulder group, my sisters, my husband (who had gone to feed the horses), or a best friend. As if, their prayers would be more powerful, more heard by God. I was humbled by my frailty. I wasn’t used to this. I had just prayed with my son, I knew the Holy Spirit gave me those words. So I picked up my phone, but once again put it back down and realized that I was surrendering to the reality of God’s sovereignty.  

I felt so small, in front of a perfect, omniscient God. He knew all, and I knew nothing. I did know that I had to sit in that dark moment by myself, scared, helpless, spiritually naked. As I sat calling on Him, the Holy Spirit reminded me of scripture after scripture of who God was, who God is, and who God will always be. 

He is immutable!  He is powerful! 

 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you!”  Jeremiah 32:17 

 The attributes of God that we had been studying at Touching Hearts, poured into my heart. I began, ”Lord, you know the number of hairs on Cade’s head. In Psalms it says, “You knew us in the womb & Cade’s name is written on your hand.” You knew the minute he would arrive, and you know the minute he would join you in heaven. You are SOVEREIGN! If Cade makes it through this ordeal, I fully trust you. And if he doesn’t make it, I fully trust you. You are sovereign regardless of the outcome. You loved him before me, before he was even born. Your breath is in Him. Make a way Lord that he will go through the fire and not even smell like smoke. I pray for that miracle!  Please make yourself known to my son and his wife, that they will draw closer to you. Please give the doctors and nurses discernment, wisdom, and gentleness in dealing with Cade. As I ended, I knew I was on sacred ground. As soon as I began to speak these words, the knot diminished from my throat, and my tears dried up. What peace came over me! I knew God was present and going before Cade. 

Did I know the outcome? No! I knew Who did and trusted His Sovereignty. This was new, holy ground.

Throughout the day, my emotions would emerge, and I would have to surrender and align them with God’s truth. Tony Evans in Victory in Spiritual Warfare, tells us, “Feelings cannot be the standard by which we measure reality. Feelings have to be brought into alignment with God’s truth to avoid the temptation to follow down an unstable path.” I experienced this. Wearing the belt of truth meant being real with God, raw, and unveiled before Him. He knew my struggle, my pain, even my helplessness. If I’m not honest with God, who already knows the truth, then Satan has stripped me of the foundational piece of armor before the battle had even begun. So, knowing God, His Word, and His attributes is the only way to function with the belt of truth. Because only then will we know Him and His truth. And as I wear the belt of truth, as you can also, we can operate our mind, will, and emotions underneath God’s view on truth. By knowing and functioning according to God’s truth, we as Christians, will be on our way to experiencing victory over everything.

Epilogue: God is sovereign! Cade has no smell of smoke, and all is well! I am thankful for this experience, in which I was able to experience God at “the burning bush.” (Exodus 3:2-5)  

Welcome Stephanie Griffin, our Deeper Still Guest Writer this week. Stephanie is one of the editors of our blog and is an active part of Touching Hearts. She has a servant’s heart and shares her many gifts with others. What a blessing to hear from her heart this week.

Cloudy Day

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Posted by Annette Burrell, March 25, 2024

Do you ever feel gloomy when you wake up to a cloudy day?  Do your thoughts immediately go toward feeling down or depressed?

Recently, I was at the beach with a girlfriend. The first two days brought beautiful, close to perfect, weather. We woke up to cloudy and misty weather on the third day. My friend said, “Woe, how’d that happen? Just two seconds ago it was clear.”

Clouds are like that. Sometimes they just pop up. At other times, like during a drought, we pray for the clouds that bring the rain.

The Hebrew word for cloud is: darkness, thickness, density. It’s no wonder we feel gloomy when “the clouds roll in.”

Most often in the Old Testament, we see a cloud as a covering for God, otherwise the people would die in His presence. Other times, clouds are used as God’s provision for the people.

Gavin Pretoria-Penney, the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, says that a version of the word cloud is mentioned 162 times in the Bible. The word “cloud” is mentioned 107 times in 94 verses; “clouds” 49 times in 49 verses; and “cloudy” 6 times in 6 verses. 

“The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” 1 Kings 18:44

There is drought and famine in the land, and the people worship and sacrifice to other gods. Through Elijah, God makes himself known on Mount Carmel and the people turn back to Yahweh. Shortly after that God sends rain, starting with a cloud as small as a man’s hand. Here we see God revealing who He is, Jehovah Jireh, The Lord our provider.

Time and time again, as the people turn away from Him, He sends a messenger, a prophet and ultimately, the Messiah to rescue them from their sin of rebellion against him.

This has happened in my own life and maybe you’ll admit it has happened in your life as well. Perhaps you are in a dry season of being away from God. I was away from God and church for 7 years. Maybe, for you, most days are filled with gloom. Jesus nudged me and brought me out of the pit I was in. He never stopped pursuing me. He is pursuing you too.

“As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.” Ezekiel 34:12

This is the prophet Ezekiel’s declaration of God’s ongoing pursuit, love and power of His chosen people. Even in our darkest hour, we can be assured that He is seeking us.

This is where our hope comes from. It comes from God.

He is our only hope.

He loves us unconditionally and so much so that he sent his Son to die for us—to redeem us.

God makes promises and establishes covenants throughout the Old Testament and He never breaks them.

Genesis 9:1-17 is the account of God’s promise and covenant he made with Noah just after the Flood. He promised he would not destroy the earth and mankind with a flood ever again. 

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” Genesis 9:13-15

 “Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the voice of one speaking.” Ezekiel 1:28

Today, my last day at the beach, the weather is clear, the temperature warm and the ocean view is perfect. How can God’s creation be anything but perfect? Even with the clouds and the storms of the last few days I see God everywhere. The clouds are a reminder to me that God is always near me. 

One of my favorite songs that depicts God’s promises is by Elevation Worship, There Is a Cloud. For me the lyrics are saying, “He pours out blessings. We need to be willing to receive it.”

There Is a Cloud

Hear the Word, roaring as thunder

With a new, future to tell

For the dry, season is over

There is a cloud, beginning to swell

To the skies, heavy with blessing

Lift up your eyes, offer your heart 

Jesus Christ, opened the Heavens

Now we receive, the Spirit of God

We receive your rain 

We receive your rain 

And with great, anticipation 

We await, the Promise to come

Everything, that You have spoken

Will come to pass, let it be done

Father God, we come to as The Creator. We thank you for being our provider. We thank you for pursuing us. We receive your rain. We receive your blessing. We await your Promise to come again. Let it be done.

There Is A Cloud | Official Lyric Video | Elevation Worship

Annette Burrell is an author, speaker, and singer/songwriter. Through Annette’s years of being a public servant, and her devotion to studying the Bible, God has equipped her to lead women into His presence, and share with them how they can grow in Christ. Her passion is learning, sharing about the Heavenly realms, and God’s plan of protection for us as believers.

The Forgetfulness of God

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Posted by Erin Roberson, March 19, 2024

Marilu Henner is an actress who is best known for her role as Elaine O’Connor Nardo in the hit sitcom Taxi. Something really interesting about Marilu Henner is that she has a highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM). She can remember almost every detail of every day in her life since she was 11 years old!  

Only about 100 people in the world have HSAM. It’s so fascinating that she was featured in an episode of 60 Minutes. Marilu says that if someone in her family wants to know when something happened, it’s always, “Ask Marilu.” She can tell you the day of the week for any date and everything that happened in her life on any given day, including what she ate!  

One time, someone was telling Marilu about their wedding on June 15, 1998, and Marilu replied, “Why did you get married on a Monday? That is so unusual.” She was correct. The wedding was held on a Monday!  

She has written a book titled Total Memory Makeover. And she is using her rare ability for good, working with the Alzheimer’s Association and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s to study brain health.

Most of us are not like Marilu. We can’t remember where we put our car keys or the date of our last physical. I don’t know anyone with HSAM, but I do know that God is omniscient. He knows everything, and He forgets nothing.

God knows everything about me. He knows everything that has happened in my past, and He even knows everything that is going to happen. In fact, He’s already there in my future! It blows my mind to think about it!

Although God remembers everything, the Bible tells us that God forgives and forgets our sins. For example, God says He “keeps no record of sins” in Jeremiah 31:34.  Likewise, in Isaiah, God says, ‘I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (43:25).

But how can that be, since God knows everything and forgets nothing?

It appears that God chooses not to remember our mistakes. He frees us from the slavery of sin and invites us, like Paul, to “forget what is behind and press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us]” (Philippians 3:13).

My favorite verse about this topic says that God removes our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). Think about traveling around the globe. When do you stop going east and start going west? It’s impossible to know! When we ask God to forgive us, our sins are completely forgiven.  

Jesus was the one-time sacrifice that completely removes our sin. He can heal any wound and forgive any mistake. We can accept this grace and move forward, knowing that God wants to transform us and will not hold our mistakes against us. In fact, He can redeem our mess ups and turn them into masterpieces!

If God can choose to forget our mistakes, does that mean God can cause us to forget the hurts others have inflicted upon us? To forgive someone, we must often put painful memories out of our minds. We may not be able to completely forget the offense, but we can choose to overlook it. We can choose not to dwell on it. We can forgive and move on.

As followers of Jesus, we are to forgive even if the other person has not taken a step toward reconciliation…and even if they won’t admit to doing anything wrong! 

Jesus set the perfect example for us. Although the disciples deserted Him and even claimed they did not know Him, He died on a cross for them (and for you and me). After he was raised from the dead, Jesus forgave and restored Peter, the one who had denied him three times. Not only did Jesus forgive Peter, he used him to preach the first gospel message!

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, it is possible to forgive even the most awful hurts and to be at peace, trusting God to show us the steps forward. 

Erin Roberson is a wife and mother of two wonderful grown boys. She is a lifelong educator who loves learning and teaching others. She believes our primary focus should be on our relationship with God, learning who God is, who God says we are, and how God wants us to live.