Our Loving Father's Provision When We're Distressed

Have you even seen a young child in distress?  Upset, afraid crying?  Until…  Until their father or mother appears, picks them up and carries the child around with them.   In many instances it’s almost like magic.  If the child has a stable, loving attachment with that parent or caregiver, they will quickly feel safe and calm down. The one dynamic in our nervous system to able give us stability when we are in fear, in fight or flight mode - is when we’re comforted by someone we have a secure, love-based attachment with.  When we are deeply distressed, our capacity for words, logic, reason, perhaps even our sense of identity (what it’s like for us to act like ourselves) may be partially or completely “off-line”.  God’s Hesed attachment love grounds our soul in His stability.  Then the fullness of who we are can be restored and strengthened through shalom and joy together When we experience Hesed love with God we receive His shalom when we feel afraid.  And God expresses to us his joy over being with us.  “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 NKJV Here are two quotes about relationally connected love and joy from the book “The Other Half of Church”.  I added bold italic text for emphasis: “Jesus refused to relinquish joy in the midst of His suffering on the cross. When we are able to stay relationally connected to others and God, we experience joy while we suffer. Joy does not remove our pain, but it gives us the strength to endure . Remember that joy is relational, so “ joy in suffering ” means that God and our community are glad to be with us in our distress. They do not allow us to suffer alone. We are able to bear our suffering like Jesus , “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” ( Hebrews 12:2 NASB ) “It is important to remember that joy is not strictly an emotion . We might refer to it as a supra - emotion because it can go on top of and connect with other emotions. For example, if I lose my job , this is usually not considered a joyful occasion. Instead, I am probably feeling some combination of sadness, fear , and anger. However, when I experience these unpleasant emotions and can simultaneously feel that God is with me, I have added joy into the mix. If I have close friends who are also happy to be with me in my loss, my joy magnifies even more . Now I’m feeling sad and joyful. Fearful and joyful. Angry and joyful. Joy does not replace the unpleasant emotions; instead it combines with my emotions to keep me relationally connected in distress.” Heavenly Father and Jesus, please empower us to see your eyes, and feel your heart for us.  Especially when we are in deep distress!  May our hesed attachment to You grow deeper and wider.  May Your joy over being with us strengthen us inside.  Amen! You can watch or listen to last week’s service here:

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Love,         Russ Fochler P.S.  Last Saturday night, I asked Monika Muller-Eberhard to write down some of the revelation she experienced.  May this encourage you to enter in to what God desires to do in us and through us! “As I interceded for the Saturday night service, I asked Him to show me how to partner with Him. The first thing  I saw  was the Lion, the Eagle, the Ox and Man.  These are the four living creatures in Rev  4:7. At first, the Lion was roaring over Blazing  Fire but as the worship crescendoed  I saw the Lion roar through our congregation over the valley and Bay Area.  It was clear Blazing Fire had a CRUCIAL role interceding for the Bay Area! Then I saw the eyes of the Eagle connecting with each person in the sanctuary.  This connection was lifting people’s perspective to higher realm.  It significantly changed people’s perception of their life situations. With it came gifts; a greater measure of discernment, knowledge, understanding, counsel and reverence. Isaiah 11:2.  The Eagle’s impartation then went out through your eyes and touched everything and everyone around you.  It was a beautiful! Later in the service when Russ was talking, I saw Jesus inviting each one of you to gaze  into His left eye.  The gaze was between your left eye and His left eye. I sensed a deep impartation of His love, security, joy and identity.”