"I will never leave you, nor forsake you"

When I was in Bible College, a friend of mine from the school was speaking to the youth group at my church. I couldn't tell you what he was talking about that night; not that i wasn't listening, but because of the way God spoke to me - I don't remember anything else other than God's message to me.

Whatever Scott was speaking on that night, it was NOT Hebrews 13:4 - 6 or any of the other bible verses that give God's promise of never leaving nor forsaking us.

While Scott was preaching that night I heard God say to me "I will never leave you nor forsake you" Now, it wasn't an audible voice I heard, but I understood those words spoken to me just as clearly as if I HAD heard an audible voice. It was such a strong presence that it startled me, and the words I heard were all I could think about during the rest of his sermon. Afterwards, Scott walked up to me and said "You know, God says in the Bible, I will never leave you nor forsake you". You could have knocked me over with a feather. God spoke to me VERY clearly, in a way that I can't explain other than, even though I didn't hear an audible voice, I understood completely the words He was saying to me; and THEN He went and confirmed it by having a friend walk up to me and "say" the words to me without us even talking about anything related.

Let me back up just a bit. Prior to that night, I had been struggling with a spiritual dry spell, spiritual down, felt like God wasn't listening to me or at least not responding to me; to be honest I felt like I was searching for him A LOT and He was not letting me find him. Then He revealed himself to me in such a mighty way. I'm sure that if I had been in a spiritually close time with God, it still would have been amazing. But i don't think it would have had the meaning or the impact that it had because of the way God orchestrated it. It was as if God hid from me for a while (even though he was really with me all the time) My kids are playing hide and seek right now in front of me; and Madi is looking for Ty, even though she can't see him, and she is looking for him; he is only about 3 feet from her. It was the same with God... He didn't leave me, but He hid from me, and that made me seek Him more. I can remember being frustrated because I was reading my Bible, praying, doing all that I knew to do to communicate with God, all that I knew to "find" Him; but He kept Himself hidden from me until the RIGHT time. At the right time, He revealed Himself in a way that I will never forget. It is a spiritual milestone in my life. As the next 16 years have gone by there have been many times when I felt like God had abandoned me because of my life circumstances, and He always reminds me of that time when he so clearly spoke and confirmed "I will never leave you nor forsake you"; so during my hard times, I may get frustrated, but I know God is there, and at the RIGHT time, He will reveal Himself and His will for my life; and it will all be alright.