Surrounded by His Presence

And surely I am with you always Matthew 28:20

It was a happy little town in Florida called Celebration. We moved there the day after my oldest son left for graduate school. It was going to be a new start and new life and all that new stuff resembling our ideas of a new year. We sold or gave away a majority of the furniture, so when we arrived in the Sunshine state we did not even have a couch to sit on for three weeks. We set-up house in a rented blue cottage, and after a partial clearing of the boxes, began what we thought would be a new life. 

Within a few months of being there my father died, and a couple of months after that my husband’s mom died, and a few months after that our youngest son was involved in an accident which netted a concussion and broken arm. A few months later, there was a hospital stay for my husband. Then there was being homesick and adjusting to new jobs and learning what cultural diversity really means. Ah, life continues. New years and new places do not escape the realities and challenges of life. We wake up breathing and BAM, life is there with all its gusto (and punch sometimes). 

In Florida, I had a porch with two black rockers on it. After the onslaught of Dad’s illness and death, I would sit on the porch, close my eyes and let the breeze surround me. I could feel it on my face, hear it as it moved past me, and see its effects in the palm trees as they swayed, but if I put my hand out to touch it I could not grasp the breeze. I just knew it was there. Something the breeze taught me and something I learned rocking on my porch in Celebration, Florida is this: though I cannot see God in a physical form or hear Him in an audible voice, He is there in the reality and challenge of each new day with me as present as the breeze I cannot physically hold in my hand or see. I needed to be reminded of that fact. 

I find there are times we all need to be reminded especially when we cannot see the way ahead or the need for the suffering or the reason for it all. We are not alone. Jesus gave his disciples a truth to hold onto when they could no longer physically see him. And surely I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). That same truth is with us to this very day, always. When new days turn out to be new disasters, and life seems to take our breath, close your eyes and feel the breeze and remember, He is with me always.

Tammy

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