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I have been journaling the month of June about the names of God and Jesus. In my reading for another project, I read Isaiah 43:2-3a I have always received a lot out of verse two but when I read it this time, my eyes fell on the words in beginning of the third verse.

“When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

And when you pass through the rivers,

They will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

You will not be burned;

The flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord, your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

This time, the last two lines caught my eye. God tells me that because He is the LORD, our God, Israel’s Holy One, and the one who saves us, we should have no fear.

Whatever fears we have as humans, we have because we are humans and trusting in our own strength. Some of my personal fears have been because I could do nothing to make certain circumstances go away. No matter how much I begged and pleaded but one of them would not leave my family. That person who had the problem had to be the one to decide to take the steps to get rid of the issues. I had to learn to trust the LORD for the outcome.

I have come to believe that we recognize the many attributes of God when we mature in Him and draw closer to Him, at the same time learning to bask in His presence.

One of the praise choruses we sing at church starts out with these words:

“I am not skilled to understand.” 1.

Humanly speaking, we aren’t wired to know anything about how God works. It is only when we get to know Him that we can say, “Yes, He’s my Savior.”

Knowing we have a Savior who loves us keeps us safe during volatile times. God protects us when we obey Him. He provides a way out of difficult circumstances if we listen to Him.

In reading some of my old journals for a monthly blog post, I came across some personal entries from the autumn we lost my stepmother. One entry concluded with a list of things I knew at that time. The following entry lists conditions I saw affecting my life but were things I didn’t know how they would end.

God, being the loving Savior He is, has taken care of all the doubts I had concerning my dad, my husband, my son, and myself. I have been blessed by God in that He has been with me though all these many years. I have felt His presence when the circumstances of life have been their heaviest on my heart.

Dear readers, if any of you have great concerns that keep you weighed down, take the time to get closer to Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Trust Him with those issues; allow Him to work on them. Watch what happens and give Him thanks for what He does.

1. My God, My Savior, lyrics by Aaron Shust; originally written by Dorothy Greenwell. [Jesus the Saviour.] From her Songs of Salvation, 1873, p. 4, entitled "Redemption," into the Sunday School Hymnary, 1905. The music and chorus lyrics are by Shust; the verses are Greenwell’s.

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

A World of One