“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust. Psalm 91:1-2

One day, a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

We are to love Him emotionally (heart), spiritually (soul), intellectually (mind), and physically (strength). We are to love Him with all that we are. Thus, we are to love every aspect of who He is with all that we are.

So, we are to love the fact that He is Almighty; that He is ruling; that He is all-powerful; that He is in charge over every single thing; over every joy and every trial; over full rooms filled with the laughter of children, and empty rooms filled with so many memories of children now grown.

We spent New Years at our cabin near Spooner, WI. We had a lovely time together, but something big was about to happen; something we had all been anticipating for months. On Sunday morning, our son Jacob left with all his worldly possessions and moved to Rhinelander, Wisconsin for a job which started January 3. Now, Rhinelander is only 4 hours from our home and only 2 hours from our cabin, but even so it was hard to say good-bye. When we arrived home from the cabin last evening, I walked passed Jacob’s room, the room that has housed boys for the last 20 years and there it was….empty. We have never had an empty room in the Haas home before and I just cried and cried. Oh the passage of time…..My mind began racing with questions; Did I spend enough time with him?, Did I do enough for him?, Was I a good mother? For a few moments, I was overwhelmed with grief.

As I was sitting down to eat dinner, the Lord intervened reminding me of who He is through sweet words from my youngest daughter, Gwendolyn. With tears streaming down my face, she came to me and put her arms around me and said, “Mama, it’s going to be OK. It’s good for you to cry and get it out. Remember, God is with you and He is in charge.” She was reminding me that God was over this empty room; that He was over children growing and leaving; that He was with me in this valley; that He was Almighty. In that moment, I was able to praise the Lord for who He is and to love Him more deeply. When I laid my head down on my pillow, rest came; not just physical rest, but rest for my soul; rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

How are you resting in the shadow of the Almighty?

Blessings to you, Heather