Still Alive! Learning What It Really Means To Live Abundantly!

It has been something like 15 months since I last blogged.  Yes, I am still alive!

Life was happening during those 15 months.  We prepped a house for a move.  We cleaned.  We prepped some more.  We cleaned.  We cleaned.  We cleaned some more.  Then we packed and packed and packed some more.

Less than two weeks before Christmas of last year, we sold our house and with the help of friends and family, we moved into our new home.

Prior to purchasing our current home, we prayed and prayed and you got it, prayed some more.  We prayed for a home that was in the center of God’s will.  We prayed for God to open the right doors and close the wrong doors.  We prayed for our hearts to be purified so we might make a decision that was in the perfect will of God.

By faith, we stepped through the doors God opened.  We continue to be amazed at how God so wonderfully provided and blessed us!

We don’t take our current status for granted.  We know that everything can change in a second.  Yet, we continue to be thankful and to praise the One Who made this all possible.

A friend blessed me a few months ago with the book, The Names Of God, written by Marilyn Hickey.

I loved the chapter on El Shaddai.  It signifies nourishment and productiveness, like a mother’s breast.  “God is shown as the One who is more than enough.”  God is saying, “I am more than enough to meet your needs in each situation.”

“The word almighty always relates to blessings and multiplication.  Because the name speaks of more than enough, it speaks of abundance.  When Jesus said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ (John 10:10), He was speaking of El Shaddai, who supplies an abundance of nourishment for body, soul, and spirit.”

“That’s Jesus saying to you, ‘I came to give you life in abundance!’  He never said that He came to squeeze you down into a nub and to get you into heaven by the skin of your teeth.  No, He has an abundance of God’s blessings that are just for you.  You need to camp under God’s shadow and allow Him to be more than enough.”

“Moses also knew El Shaddai … Moses extolled the power of God, which had delivered Israel from the plagues that were upon Egypt.  In this verse, the word dwelleth actually means ‘to stake your claim.’  Imagine this: he who stakes his claim in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  Moses said, ‘I am staking my claim under the shadow of God who is more than enough.  That’s where I want to live’.”

“The devil is a claim jumper, and he’ll try to steal what you have claimed… the Bible says that He who promised is faithful … Put your trust in the all-sufficient One.”

What a wonderful privilege it is to be a daughter of El Shaddai!