Tough times are usually followed by those ugly feelings of worry, fear, doubt, and/ or confusion. It sometimes leaves us wondering, where is God in all of this?
I have been there so many times. It is difficult to believe that a good God is with you when your life feels everything but good.
One of the great things about God is that He is not just a spectator of our lives, He is a part of it.
When we think about God, we sometimes view Him as someone that is just looking down and watching us.
But the bible tells us on numerous occasions that God is with us. It’s easy to believe the lie that we are alone or that God isn’t near us but He walks through it all with us.
There are three stories that I enjoy that really shows just how much God is with us.
If you are ever struggling to remember or believe that, I hope you are able to find comfort in one of these stories.
God is Always with you
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god is with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Daniel 3:16-28 Read over these verses in your preferred bible version!
King Nebuchadnezzer made an image of gold and required that everyone worshiped his gods. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to.
So the King threatened to throw them into a blazing fire if they didn’t, and still they refused.
Not only did they refuse, they had a confidence in God that they served to believe that He could deliver them from the fire and even if He didn’t, they would still serve Him.
King Nebuchadnezzer became angry and ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter, tied them up, and had them thrown in with all of their clothes on.
The furnace was so hot that the flames were killing the king’s soldiers but when the King looked into the furnace, the three men were unharmed.
Not only were they unharmed, when the king looked inside, he saw four men instead of three.
This is one of my favorite stories because not only was God protecting them, He was walking through the fire with them!
2. God is with Joseph
Genesis 39:21-23 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
The story of Joseph is very unique and interesting. He was the most loved of Jacob’s 12 sons. His jealous brothers sold him into slavery, he was taken to Egypt, and landed into Potophar’s house.
Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Jacob and failed so she gave false accusations against him and landed him in prison.
There is a lot more to Joseph’s story but this is the part that I want to focus on.
“But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.”
I love this story so much because Joseph went through so much and even in prison, God was with him. He wasn’t alone in a very dark time in his life.
Not only was he not alone, God showed him favor in a PRISON!
3. God is with David
Lastly, David! David was another layered person. In this portion of his story, Saul was King and became jealous of David.
Saul was so consumed with anger and jealousy that he threw a spear at David, but David was able to dodge it. Similar to Joseph’s story, the bible says again,
1 Samuel 18:14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.
David was dealing with a jealous and angry king that wanted him dead. Instead, he continued to succeed because the Lord was with him.
“The Lord was with..” is written so many times in the bible. This a reminder for us to always know that the God that was with them is also with us.
So when you need that reminder, write down “The Lord is with *insert your name*”
I want to share with you an amazing worship song to listen to when you need to be reminded of God presence in your life:
Song: Still Holy (feat. Naomi Raine & Ryan Ofei) by Tribl & Maverick City Music
Life is filled with challenges, there will be both good and bad days, but one constant in our life is God!
I pray that you hold on to this truth; we can always count on God to be there with us.
Jada Woods
Jada is an HR professional in Texas. She has her Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management and a Master’s degree in Organizational Development. When she is not working, she is mentoring, helping in the local church’s student ministry, or hosting a weekly group for sex trafficking survivors. She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family, outdoor activities, games, volunteering, and getting lost in a good book. Jada has a passion for missions and wants everyone to experience God’s love so that they can live a life of true freedom and abundance. You can follow more of Jada’s story on IG @lettertojada
Jada, you truly captured Gods love for us and we all need to remember he holds us up on eagles wings when we go through our struggles. God bless you and all you’re doing to spread his good words. Xo
Reading your Blog, your sermon, your article, or whatever you may call it is absolutely great, heart fealt, eye opening, powerful and so much of what we need to know and understand about what God want for our lives. We sometimes don’t understand the plans God has for our lives, that’s why we need to stay in his word to come to truly get an understanding as to what God want for us and how to live to accomplish it. Keep up the good work, God is taking you somewhere. You just have to be willing to go..
Thanks for these wonderful reminders of Stories from the Bible showing God’s steadfast, faithful, caring, and loving presence in our lives at all times! I desperately needed those Healing and Comforting reminders for my life’s journey presently! Thank you!