I woke this morning after having experienced the worst nights sleep in the past 4 nights of poor sleep…panda eyed I wandered about the house getting some breakfast. My ears rang, my body groaned, the pain in my muscles radiated from a very deep place.

Just for the record, I had damaged my left shoulder a year ago and unfortunately – did some minor damage to my right this month. As I endeavoured to catch some much-needed rest, I would lay on my side, only to be woken up by a wincing sound – realising it was coming from within me! hence….the lack of sleep.

Anyway, wondering this morning what on earth was going on, I sat down with God and began some sincere dedicated time of listening. It had been a while, difficult in the noise that comes with school holidays around here…so I was a little out of practice.

As I sat and read from the book of Genesis, I felt myself just reading for reading sake.

Ho-hum…..very little understanding and very little energy to even think to understand.

I felt passionless….and that is a bad place to begin hearing from God.

I needed something different this morning, I needed to be different.

So I stopped and I waited….after a short while I felt to speak what my heart wanted.

….”Father, I don’t want to read one more word without you. Please show me something from your heart for me today.”

I re-read the part I had just read in Gen 28:10-17. I have not been able to read beyond this as yet.

He spoke to me LOUD and CLEAR!

God was travelling with Jacob who had just gone out on a journey to Haran. He stopped for a sleep, put his head on the rock pillow and slipped into a dream of all dreams.

In the dream Jacob sees a HUGE stairway, with angels coming and going from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. God stands at the top and gives Jacob the promise of descendants aplenty and also the land which he found himself resting upon. God then goes on to say this from vs.15

He says: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.”

As I read this, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I sensed God say “I am with you in this place.”

It was a promise to me and to you.

Whatever or wherever we might find ourselves – God is there!

So here I am, pondering all the friends who are going through tough and troubled seasons-feeling pretty terrible from the aches and pains….and in an instant God has spoken life into all of those situations…and into me.

He is there/ He is here, with me.

He is watching over us.

He sees the comings and goings and He sends his angels to help wherever we might find ourselves.

Now that is amazing to me!

1. That God is with me right now. There is no place that I am, that God isn’t. What a relief!

2. That He sees it all and sends angels to work for me in every situation.

3. That I have a direct connection and link to the one who sees the outcome, of even the humanly direst circumstance.

I asked God for a picture that shows something about this promise and truth for me this morning.

He gave me this: (strange one, but so beautiful!)

In the labour ward as we were having a baby.

He highlighted the umbilical cord connecting mother to baby for all those months in the womb.

Then, He showed me the precious newborn bub being passed to me and tenderly placed on my chest.

The warmth, as warm as the environment within my own body. 

The baby cries at the cold and shakes. A blanket is quickly wrapped around the affronted skin….

He reminded me of the way it’s cries left completely, and peace came over each one, the moment I spoke words of love and thanks for it’s tiny life.

Maybe it’s just me, but that picture speaks to me so much. It comforts me. It tells me that God has me. It reminds me that when God speaks, peace enters in to the deepest parts of me and brings comfort, wherever I might find myself. It reminds me that the very things I need and cry out for, He provides swiftly and in perfect timing. It reminds me that we are connected and that connection is a LIVING one. He lives with me and I in Him.

His words of LIFE are found, as my desire to find Him increases.

So yes, I have been struggling to sleep, experiencing pain and all that jazz…but the God of the universe is WITH ME.

And for some reason, that’s all I seem to need right now.

God bless you in whatever place you find yourself in today.

Keep trusting.

If your time with God has grown stale or without passion, stop for a moment – give Him all that looks to invade your time together. Then wait upon Him, become aware of His presence around and in you…..become aware of the depth of His love for you right now in this place that you find yourself and know…..He is with you. xxxxx