life verse

Hebrews 13:5b I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. (NLT)

I was a freshman at Asbury College, beginning to struggle with all my issues - & boy! did I have issues! I wasn't sure who I was, what I was about, how God felt about me, how I felt about myself, if I was worth anything, if God really loved me, if the struggle was worth it, if there was any future for me, as well as a gajillion other insecurities, self-loathings, & neuroses.

I remember going to the small prayer chapel up in the practice room hall of the music building & just praying a lot about whatever the crises of faith & blaring issues I was grappling with that day.

In the middle of all that angst, God spoke to me by dropping a thought in my head - one of the first times He'd done that in my life.

He said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts."

(Back then, I guess God spoke in King James English ;-) hahahahahahaha!!!)

Ya see, I needed to feel like I belonged to someone - that someone loved & cared about me unconditionally, & wasn't going anywhere, physically or emotionally.

You can imagine how shocked I was a few months (?) later when I read Hebrews 13 for the first time & realized that what He's spoken to me was in the Bible.

It's my life verse - it's not something I trumpet - it's just something I live in the assurance of from day to day.

Btw, He's left me, & hasn't forsaken me. ;-)