I must thank my Shabbat encouragement community for the many responses of love and support. Encouraging the encourager is an unanticipated blessing beyond my words. I recognize it deeply as HaShem’s “angels” in the flesh working through each of you, and even through my knowing others share these feelings silently in their hearts. Thank you all.

As you listen for Him, as you see and hear the same sights and sounds with new eyes of revelation, as you work to still the sounds of distraction, as you prioritize time with our Abba, you may notice the peeks at him unfold not at once, but with glimpses, as a beautiful butterfly who opens its wings to reveal their full glory. We cannot see His face, but we can see His awe-inspiring workings, themselves sometimes too magnificent to handle. That nanosecond is to the butterfly as sometimes a whole lifetime is to us, taking days, months, years, decades sometimes, to appreciate the splendor, or if you stay open to the hints, sometimes just moments, in this case days. . .

Last week I mentioned how perfectly timed Marty Goetz’s intro was to “The Plans I Have for You”. He discusses being inspired by the text of a hymn brought to him by Billy Graham’s wife and called it the song of the prodigal son. As my daughter is lost at the moment, when I heard it I focused on the words being said. Yet when I was fact checking the quote to get it right last week to share with you, at first I couldn’t find that intro anywhere! Somehow when I played this song from my playlist as I had done so many times before, the intro suddenly wasn’t there! I searched every performance of that song on YouTube and couldn’t find Marty saying those introductory words!! How is that??!! I knew I had heard it! No logical explanation. . .

I ultimately discovered the answer on while jogging later in the week– the intro to that song “somehow” had actually ended up as part of the ending track for Ani Ma’amin!! Confusing? Totally. In other words, if on my playlist I played Ani Ma’amin, that song ended and still on that same track, right after the applause for Ani Ma’amin, the intro to “The Plans I Have for You” began. Then, on the next track Marty’s song starts to play from the beginning of the actual song with no verbal introduction.

I suppose you could say, interesting. Oh well. Whatever. No! What I understood was that for the countless times I had already heard these songs while jogging, seamlessly going from one to the next, it didn’t matter that the intro to the next song was part of the ending track of the previous song. From my point of view, it was just music in my ears. The assumption would naturally be the intro was on the same track with the song it was introducing as would be the case 100% of the time.

In my world of listening for Him, by this illogical location of the introduction, I now recognized that Abba wanted me to know He was clearly in this situation about my daughter. All the efforts it took me to solve the mystery brought me to see the intro about the prodigal son was meant to be a focus for me, and at the time when I would be seeking reassurance that HaShem is in this with me. Now, not during the hundreds of previous times I had listened to these songs but now, when I do. The lyrics, themselves, of the song actually don’t really talk about prodigal sons. It’s more about being reassured God has a plan for us, and for our children. The song speaks to their insecurities. Now, by my intentional search for the introduction, however, Abba took that same song, to the next level. He had apparently months ago placed the intro at the end of the previous song, foreknowing that someday these words of the prodigal child would take on, sadly, a very personal meaning for me. He knew I would be comforted by them, now, causing my search for them, now, to miraculously, powerfully, remind me He’s got this.

Those words were meaningful last Shabbat, but over the top when I realized that their placement as described made no logical sense, but rather, were so designed to help me see HaShem’s presence. My daughter is as the prodigal son. She is. She’s a runner as the detective has profiled her, this supported by a number of supporting Biblical passages that I encountered “by chance” during this same time frame as I searched for the missing intro.

AnnaLisa is safely in HaShem’s protection. He is working with her on her journey. He is working with me on my journey. He is working with all of us on our journeys.

How we can carefully peel a tiny grape’s skin to reveal and relish the sweet flesh inside, nibble by nibble, so we too are offered the sweetness of seeing His work in our lives, precious moment by moment.

Don’t miss it.

Shabbat shalom.
Diane