This morning as I sat down at the table, I felt this all-too familiar drowsiness, this lethargy –this sluggishness and tiredness that I’ve been dealing with lately, as I attempt to sit down with the Lord, as I attempt to write…

It’s been happening over the last two weeks. Each morning it’s like I have to wait until something rises within me to finally be able to “push through,” and then I have to “jump into it” until finally… I am able to “break into” what the Lord is showing me.

To be honest, I’m tired of it. I’m ready to not deal with this anymore.

But I also know, that there are times in life when we’ll face resistance, and we just have to keep pushing through, until we break through it.

I know this “builds something” within me that He knows I need.

This is the verse the Lord keeps bringing me back to this morning…Isaiah 25:4. I’ve been looking at it in the different versions…

“You have been a place of safety for the poor and needy in times of trouble. Brutal enemies pounded us like a heavy rain or the heat of the sun at noon, but you were our shelter.” – Isaiah 25:4 (Contemporary English Version)

“For thou hast been a defense to the poor, a defense to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” (Websters Bible Translation)

“For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” (NKJV)

“The poor and the helpless have fled to you and have been safe in times of trouble. You give them shelter from storms and shade from the burning heat. Cruel enemies attack like a winter storm,” (Good News Translation)

“For thou hast been a helper to every lowly city, and a shelter to them that were disheartened by reason of poverty: thou shalt deliver them from wicked men: thou hast been a shelter of them that thirst, and a refreshing air to injured men.” (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

He is our place of safety, our shelter, our defender, a shade from the heat, a strength to the poor and needy, refuge from the storm, a helper to every lowly city, our mighty Deliverer, and a refreshing air to the injured. He has been and He is, and He will be!

This morning He’s encouraging me, and this is what it sounds like….

“Push through! Keep going! You’re almost there! Don’t turn back now, you will be amazed at just how close you are to breaking through this. Just keep going.”

Thank You, Lord. ???

-Heather ?