{"id":8019,"date":"2019-12-31T14:27:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T18:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=8019"},"modified":"2019-12-31T14:27:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T18:27:31","slug":"god-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=8019","title":{"rendered":"God With Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Christmas Eve, one of those memories came up on Facebook, which, let&#8217;s be honest, kill me almost every time I see them.\u00a0 Whether it is friends or family or our kids when they were much younger, they always bring a little bit of a sting to my heart as I realize time goes by so quickly, life happens, death happens and so much in between.\u00a0 So, I was reading one of these memories, which was a reflection I had written, with a 4-month old Ephraim picture.\u00a0 You can read it <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=4454\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As I read through it and as I reflected on a song and a conversation I had about &#8220;God with Us&#8221;, I started to think what that really meant.\u00a0 In all honesty, I don&#8217;t know that I had really thought about what &#8220;God with Us&#8221; really means and the significance of it in my life, not just during the Christmas season when we talk about it, but what does it mean in the daily life?\u00a0 And why hadn&#8217;t I ever thought about it before?\u00a0 I had a short conversation with my best friend about this yesterday who really is the one that started this whole conversation in my mind.\u00a0 The bottom line is I really don&#8217;t think all that much about God with ME in the sense of what I think this verse captures in Matthew.\u00a0 Mathew 1:23 says:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they call him Immanuel&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(which means &#8220;God with us&#8221;)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>GOD WITH US.<\/p>\n<p>As I thought about this more and wondered why I hadn&#8217;t really ever thought about this before, I kept waking up with the same song in my head each morning for about a week.\u00a0 I continued listening to it on repeat and God was speaking.\u00a0 If you would like to listen to that song it is here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"In the Middle of It - kalley | Faultlines\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GoGyn5dm8sk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the middle of it.\u00a0 I feel like I am there, in the middle of the battle, the storm, the (fill in the blank) a LOT!\u00a0 How often to you think that He is there with you?\u00a0 We say that and believe it sometimes, but have you thought that His VERY name means &#8220;GOD WITH US&#8221;?\u00a0 He was made flesh and dwelt among us as John 1 says.\u00a0 He is God and became flesh to not only be with us but to experience it as we do.\u00a0 When I thought more about it and why I haven&#8217;t thought much more beyond the words &#8220;God with us&#8221;.\u00a0 My best friend said, &#8220;maybe we don&#8217;t notice God&#8217;s presence in the middle of our situation because we are too busy looking at the surface.&#8221;\u00a0 HOW PROFOUND!<\/p>\n<p>But how liberating and what PEACE it brings knowing that God is WITH US!\u00a0 No matter what we face, cancer, criticism, illness, depression, crisis and all that is in between.\u00a0 He is there.\u00a0 He sees you, He sits with you and weeps with you.\u00a0 You are not alone.\u00a0 The Prince of Peace is with you.\u00a0 He is good.\u00a0 In the middle of it all, He is good.<\/p>\n<p>So, as you go in to 2020, maybe you are carrying so much and are in the middle of it and don&#8217;t feel like you can face another day, another crisis, another&#8230;ANYTHING.\u00a0 Remember, God is with YOU!\u00a0 His very name\u00a0 and His life proves it and says it.\u00a0 When you can&#8217;t face more, He is with you and has so much more for you.<\/p>\n<p>So I go back to the initial sweet stinging heart picture of Ephraim from 4 years ago.\u00a0 Him sleeping so peacefully, knowing his needs are cared for even among the craziness and danger of the world.\u00a0 God is with US in this world, no matter how bad it gets.\u00a0 He is in the middle of it with us and we can &#8220;sleep in heavenly peace&#8221; as the sweet song goes, knowing that God is in the middle of it with us.\u00a0 This peace, perfect peace, passing all understanding is with us, always.\u00a0 Rest in His peace, live in His peace.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8020\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-363x750.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"363\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-363x750.jpg 363w, https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-496x1024.jpg 496w, https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-768x1586.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-744x1536.jpg 744w, https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-991x2048.jpg 991w, https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-scaled.jpg 1239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp?moderation_action=report_form&object_type=post&object_id=8019&width=250&height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Christmas Eve, one of those memories came up on Facebook, which, let&#8217;s be honest, kill me almost every time I see them.\u00a0 Whether it is friends or family or our kids when they were much younger, they always bring a little bit of a sting to my heart as I realize time goes by &hellip; <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=8019\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,4074],"tags":[24662],"class_list":["post-8019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-reflections","tag-reflections"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>God With Us - Delplog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=8019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God With Us - Delplog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Christmas Eve, one of those memories came up on Facebook, which, let&#8217;s be honest, kill me almost every time I see them.\u00a0 Whether it is friends or family or our kids when they were much younger, they always bring a little bit of a sting to my heart as I realize time goes by &hellip; Continue reading &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/?p=8019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Delplog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-31T18:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/delp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/Ephraim-Sleeping-2-363x750.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel &amp; Kim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel &amp; Kim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/delp\\\/?p=8019#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/delp\\\/?p=8019\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joel &amp; 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