El Shadai

I am a moderate believer in coincidence.  If I bump into you at the grocery store, that's a happy coincidence.  However, I also believe God puts people, experiences, and things in our paths for a reason.  As I wrote before, I do not believe it was happenstance that Suzy, the girls and I were at the food court in City Mall the same night that Dilcia and Alex Eduardo were.  He laid out the path and, thanks be to God, we followed it.

I remember when struggling through a divorce, every time I drove a certain path, a white dove would suddenly fly up into my vision.  I believe that those experiences were a frequent reminder from God.  "I am with you."

Today, I was running errands in preparation for an upcoming medical brigade.  I was listening to the Christian station and heard a song called, "El Shadai."  I had never heard the term El Shadai before but, from the context, understood it is a Biblical term.  I was mildly curious what El Shadai means and resolved to look it up when I got home.  I finished my errands (a pain because the lab where I buy worm pills only takes cash and I didn't have enough.  I had to wrestle my way through traffic and turning my car around in a one lane street to get lempira.  Have you ever heard of a 27 point turn?) and was headed home, my mind on the next thing on my list.  I pulled in behind a bus.  In Honduras, most buses and taxis are named, often for a wife or sweetheart.  This bus was named... El Shadai.

I do not believe this was a coincidence.  What message was God trying to give me?  I texted Suzy (when not driving!) and asked her.  She replied, "God is with you."  My googling revealed that El Shaddai (Hebrew spelling) means The Almighty One.  God first revealed Himself to Abram as El Shaddai when He promised Abraham would bear a son.  

Oswald Chambers said:  "God Almighty - El Shaddai, the Father-Mother God - proved sufficient for everything. The wonder of El Shaddai (the power to create new things in the old world) runs through the whole kingdom of grace." "The Everlasting Yea is reached when we perceive that God is El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient God."

On Sunday I am making an unscheduled trip to see Daddy.  He is "fading" and I am afraid if I wait a month for my scheduled visit, it will be too late.  I can't escape the truth that Daddy won't be here forever.  Even in his elderly, infirm last few years, he has always been a source of wisdom, support and unconditional love.   I can't imagine a world without him in it.  And yet... I also know another truth.  When it is time for him to go home, he will be reunited with his beloved Mitzi, he will enter into the Kingdom of God.  What a joyous day that will be.

I believe the Lord is preparing me for this, reminding me that, come what may, He is El Shaddai.  Almighty, All-Sufficient God.  He was, is, and will be with me.  And you.

 "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."