Encounter God Day by Day

Valerie Brown (00:00)
Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? In every human soul is a God given knowing that there is something more to life than we have at this very moment. For most of us, we spend a good portion of our lives trying to figure that out. What is my something more and how do I get it? We often call this search discovering my purpose and living it day by day. My guest host, Pastor Jackie Green and I are going to provide some help for your questions today. To do this, we will look at the life of someone from the Bible who thought he was living his purpose, but he had it all wrong. Do you sometimes feel like you have it all wrong?

This is the Move Your Heart podcast and I'm your host Val Brown. And today I am welcoming back my very good friend, Pastor Jackie Green. We were together with a broadcast recently called Look at the Birds and we're just so excited to be bringing some good truths to you today, welcome my friend Jackie. So good to have you back. ⁓

Jackie Greene (01:06)
Hello, thank you, Val. Yes, always good to be with you.

Valerie Brown (01:11)
Likewise, I find it a great pleasure to podcast together. We get to do a God work. We get to join him in something that he's established and get a very good word out to our listeners. So I am very, very excited about that. So for our listeners, our plan today is we are going to be using a devotional called Experiencing God Day by Day,

And It's written by Henry and Richard Blackaby. This is a father and son. And this devotional is quite amazing. It is published by B &H Publishing Group in Brentwood, Tennessee. I will put a link in the description. We got ours on Amazon and it is very very special and very thought provoking. We are going to look at a devotion and this happens to be February 9th from the book and it's called Encounters with God. Jackie and I would like to read this devotion and then talk about the questions that we all have, those big questions: Who am I? and Why am I here? and Where am I going? It's such a big thing. Jackie, have you struggled with trying to figure out those answers for yourself?

Jackie Greene (02:29)
Most definitely, absolutely have. This whole series, whole idea by Henry Blackaby, many decades ago I actually did his study, read his book called Experiencing God, and it gave me a lot of direction. really, just confirmed a lot of things, paths that I was on, and ⁓ anything by him is very valuable, absolutely.

Valerie Brown (02:31)

It was you who introduced me to that book and I found it just as valuable. This devotional, it's so crazy good. Every single day I read the devotion. I am so shocked that it applies to something that is already going on in my life

Jackie Greene (03:08)
Yes,

The premise and concept of experiencing God that I really resonated with and really taught me a lot as I was coming into ministry and to my calling is that we are to join God where He's at. And we tend to make our plans and then ask God to bless what we're doing for Him to join in with us. And that is totally backwards. We are to seek Him and join Him in what He's doing.

Valerie Brown (03:28)
Yeah.

It just makes sense doesn't it because believers know that God is our creator. When God creates each single individual He puts a purpose on that person's life already and that's going to come out in this devotion.

Isn't it mind-boggling for as many people that have been on this planet, are on this planet, and will be born yet, they have a unique purpose. My head wonders, well, how can that be? Well, we each have our own circle of influence. We each have a family, and we each have a role in the family. And then we don't spend all of our lives tucked away in our homes. So it does make sense that each day

God's going to have something for us that's going to be meaningful more than just getting up and eating and showering and going about our day or spend the time watching TV or just being, just existing. Just existing is just a horrible feeling.

Jackie Greene (04:40)
Yes, true. We know the ultimate goal is loving God and loving others. And then within that is where we find our uniqueness of how we can do that in the very places that you just named. And it really is ⁓ daily contact with Holy Spirit, because that is who guides us,

Jackie Greene (04:58)
who shows us the opportunities just in our everyday sphere that we can make the connections with what God would have for us to do.

Valerie Brown (05:07)
So when we wake up in the morning, it makes sense that we would invite God into our day. I've not done that as a whole Christian life kind of practice. I would get into my routine of just getting up and going about my usual things.

Maybe I could do several things and I don't know what to do, but there's something different about consulting God first. And you're a very, very busy person, and I know that sometimes your plans get interrupted and you've got a lot of hats that you wear, a lot of responsibilities, so how do you sort that out?

Jackie Greene (05:30)
Yes, absolutely.

Well, I have gotten better at it, not that I'm perfect at it, but in my type A personality and perfectionism issues that God has worked on me about, I would get very unnerved if my day didn't go as it was on my calendar or how I planned it. And I really have learned, a peace in that when you pray and give your day to God, then whatever is happening, He is aligning. So if things don't go as planned, I really

Jackie Greene (06:12)
I'm good with that. I'm like, well, that wasn't supposed to happen today. That will happen another day. Then being focused on what is happening instead of just being all worked up and, upset because that gets our focus off what is happening in the moment. So just learning to live in the moment.

Yeah. I get popped with challenges over here or something sours my day. Then I'll have to get back on track One thing that I've started to do, Jackie, is

Jackie Greene (06:37)
Yes.

Valerie Brown (06:42)
set the visual in my head that God is is the chief executive officer over my life, my CEO and I find that if I'm reporting to his boardroom for his morning briefing It might sound silly, but that that so helps me because then I can say God okay here I am and Here is here is my day. Okay. What do you want to do today?

That has helped me a lot just to acknowledge that he's God. Whenever things do get thwarted, then I can know that he already knew that was going to happen. There's a work around somehow that I can receive help right then and there, because I'm reminded if he's the CEO and he set me on the course for my day, he can do a correction of some kind. That helps me a little bit. Yeah.

Jackie Greene (07:30)
Yes, yes, that's true.

Valerie Brown (07:34)
Well, we've got a little bit to cover here in our devotion. I alluded in the introduction that we were going to be looking at someone from the Bible. We're going to be looking at a man who is known as Saul by birth. And then God renamed him to Paul. How would you describe Paul to our listeners?

Jackie Greene (07:57)
through his encounter with God, that's how he became Paul.

God chose him to use him for very big things. We know that he's the writer of most of the New Testament in the Bible, and he heard clearly from the Lord, but prior to that, we know that he was actually killing Christians. The thing is in that is he thought he was doing a good thing. He thought that was what he was supposed to do. So God gave him a course correction, and he definitely had a very clear encounter.

Valerie Brown (08:31)
Yeah, and he was known as a very religious guy. He was the top of the order of the religious folks of his day. So if anybody thought they were on the right course, it was definitely Saul, as he was named at that point. How many of us get in our vocations and we feel what we're pursuing is what we're supposed to do. And then we find we don't like it. We're not doing well. We're not fulfilled. And then we still have that.

"There's got to be something more." Or we reach that pinnacle of success. Think about the millionaires who have climbed the top. have prestige, they have money, and they're so empty. The things of this world don't satisfy us. Our purpose is much deeper than that.

Our devotion again is from February 9th and is called Encounters with God and it begins with this scripture verse. This is what God actually said to Saul. "But get up and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and of what I will reveal to you." That is recorded in Acts 26:16.

Jackie, could you read the devotion for us?

Thank you Jackie.

Jackie Greene (09:51)
Absolutely,

yes. "God was working in your life long before you began working with him. The Lord knew you before time began and he knew what he wanted to do with your life.

Valerie Brown (10:04)
In Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. And in Psalm 139:13, "For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

Jackie Greene (10:29)
"Before the Apostle Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Jesus already knew Paul and had a specific assignment for him, but Jesus only revealed this assignment after Paul's conversion.

Valerie Brown (10:44)
Acts 9:15, "But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Jackie Greene (10:57)
"So misguided was Paul that in his sincere efforts to serve God, he had actually been waging war against Christians. Although God knew what he wanted for Paul, he waited to reveal it to him until he gained his attention and became his Lord. Our Lord does not come to us to discover what we would like to accomplish for him. He encounters us in order to reveal his activity and invite us to become involved in his work.

An encounter with God requires us to adjust ourselves to the activity of God that has been revealed. God never communicates with us merely to give us a warm devotional thought for that day. He never speaks to us simply to increase our biblical knowledge. Our Lord has far more significant things to reveal to us than that. When God shows us what He is doing, He invites us to join Him in the work He is doing. Are you prepared to meet God today? Don't seek to hear from God unless you are ready to ask as Paul did, what shall I do Lord?"

Valerie Brown (12:02)
There are so many key points in there. The first thing that strikes me is that God knows each one of us before we're born. The Jeremiah verse, says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Being consecrated means set apart, set apart for a purpose. for Jeremiah, he was set apart to do a specific work. But this applies to each and every one of us, doesn't it?

Jackie Greene (12:33)
Yes it does. I mean just reading this excites me in my spirit because I have experienced this literally with the Lord. I mean, you know my story Val. I spent 30 some years in business doing something totally different. Most of that time I knew there was something more something different. ⁓ You know I was coming into a closer relationship with Jesus.

Jackie Greene (12:55)
and I literally had these experiences. I heard from God and it changed the direction of my life. I had big decisions to make. ⁓ It's all about being ready and obeying. So like it says here, he's not contacting us to give us to me what I would call a fluffy devotional just so we feel good for the day. If you're hearing from God, there is, you know, things that are going to happen in your life ⁓ and you have to be ready for that.

Valerie Brown (13:15)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jackie Greene (13:24)
and you have to obey. I mean, we have our part and our part is to do those things.

Valerie Brown (13:28)
Was that like a little urging or how did you know that you needed to change your life course?

Jackie Greene (13:35)
Well, we don't have enough time to go into all of that today. I had many encounters with the Lord, many directions, many opportunities, doors open. And just as you keep taking a step in that direction, then he shows you the next thing. Then he opens the next door. And I just kept seeking him. I mean, was in a lifestyle from early in my life that was not good, was not fitting for the Lord.

Valerie Brown (13:37)
Yeah? Yeah, yeah.

Jackie Greene (14:04)
So, he was calling me out of that to come up higher into something better. But I had definitely heard from him about taking ministry classes. Nothing that I sought out. I was just such a baby Christian. I really just couldn't comprehend what he was doing with me. But yet I kept doing what he asked me to do.

And through the process, I became a pastor and now I have my own ministry and a nonprofit, which was not on my to-do list, wasn't goals of mine. I had no indication that's what my life was going to end up being. And that's what happens when you follow God. And it's OK, because your journey turns into an amazing adventure when you just follow him step by step.

Valerie Brown (14:52)
Mm hmm.

Jackie Greene (14:53)
He cares for you, he provides. There's lots of things we have to adjust in our life and he still provides everything we need him.

Valerie Brown (14:56)
Okay. I love how you said step by step. it really comes down to each individual choice that we make and it does break down to being in his will today. So for some of us it might be that we're involved in something that we have a panged conscience over.

I know I shouldn't be doing that. So that person actually could go to God and say, God, you got to help me with this. I can see that it's not good for me. I can see that you don't want me to do this. So I need your help. And I'm just asking you to come into this situation with me and help me to take away the cravings or help me to not make that same choice. So that would be an example.

And then another thing might be somebody might have a desire in their heart day after day after day. Like maybe someone has a desire to work with children and it just won't go away. Then, they might hear somebody say, we really need somebody here and it's going to involve working with children. That's some of how God does speak to us and how he does try to get us into the purpose for which we're to step into. So he's inviting us. He's showing us that that's a work where I do want you to come and work with me. But sometimes we don't feel confident that we could do that. And I'm sure what you're doing probably stretches you. Does it?

Jackie Greene (16:33)
Stretches me beyond belief. The operative word that you spoke there was choice. We have choices. So we can choose not to do the things that, you we're being prompted and our life will take a very different route, a different path. So it's not something that God imposes on us. He doesn't make us do it. He asks us, He invites us in to partner with Him.

Valerie Brown (16:42)
Mm.

Jackie Greene (16:55)
and to just be a part of his plan here on this earth, you know, so it's a privilege. It's humbling, but it is definitely overwhelming. I won't kid you about that. I mean, I took ministry classes for eight years. I was working full time, had two small children, had a marriage, and had a lot of issues, a lot of other issues in my life. My mother had early onset of Alzheimer's, had to help care for her. I mean, life was happening, but yet I was taking these ministry classes and there's no way that I could have done that without God's grace and his hand upon me. Different things he has asked me to do I give him the whole list of the why I can't do it and he just says you know okay but you can I mean you just you step into it and then you just watch him work it's amazing.

Valerie Brown (17:27)
Mm.

I love that. Yeah, we're in charge of the obeying part and he's the one that opens up the doors or The door is already open. So if we go through that door, then there will be help there So that we can do what he's asking us to do So that that sounds like that's pretty easy on us, It's not difficult It is but

Jackie Greene (18:02)
Yes.

Maybe it is, but it isn't. mean, it can be simple. We, I mean, I, there have been decisions that I, God has put before me that I took years to answer, to fully step into it because it was big stuff. And he was patient and kind. He didn't say, one chance and you're done. He just walks the journey with you.

Valerie Brown (18:23)
I hear you.

So, maybe the person could just try on for size the saying, God, I think you're telling me to do this. Just opening up that conversation, then he can begin to speak to them.

Jackie Greene (18:46)
And it's okay to go in a direction, try something, and maybe it doesn't work out, or maybe it gets adjusted, or maybe there's something from those particular experiences that you need to learn and it helps grow you, and then you continue on. God's not going to lose you. He knows right where you're at at every moment, and He's going to continue to faithfully walk with you through that.

Valerie Brown (19:13)
Yeah,

Even Paul we know from the scriptures that whenever God did he did get him on course he went away for 14 years and he was learning God, he was learning his ways, and he already knew a whole lot about the Bible. Actually, it wasn't the Bible that we know, but the Word of God as it was written then. he didn't even consult with those that were the disciples, but he went away so that he could get to know God. He was encountering God day by day by day.

We have to learn to hear his voice and then to know how to use that gifting.

Jackie Greene (19:53)
I did not know when I started taking ministry classes that I was becoming a pastor. He didn't ask me to be a pastor. I was seeking him because I needed him because my life was such a mess and all I knew was to keep seeking Jesus and so the seeking him and the coming into a closer relationship with him, he just guided me to taking these ministry classes. I thought it was just to help me be a better director of women's ministry, which I was at that time for my local church and in our district. And literally halfway through the process, I was many years into the process before he made it clear that I was doing this to become a pastor. So yeah, so you don't maybe know the outcome. And then I was afraid, I was insecure, I pushed back on that. But yet I kept taking the classes.

Valerie Brown (20:32)
Okay.

Well, that does sound like God.

Jackie Greene (20:49)
And I got to the point where he said I should, and then I still didn't understand how or what that was gonna look like or what I would do. ⁓ So you're not gonna get the whole picture all at once. That's where faith comes in. You have to walk the journey of faith.

Valerie Brown (20:49)
Yeah.

Day by day, right? Yeah. The devotion says, although God knew what he wanted for Paul, he waited to reveal it to him until he gained Paul's attention, and became his Lord. So you were talking about not knowing the full revelation of what we're being led into.

Jackie Greene (21:10)
Exactly.

Valerie Brown (21:30)
God needs our attention every single day. If we have a knowing about what he wants us to do, and then we try to do it ourselves, he doesn't have our attention. And we're going to really mess it up pretty big. And from my own experience, I have been humbled.

Whenever I've set out to do something and it's been hard I think I can't do this and must have been wrong. But whenever i am doing it with god and letting him lead and letting it be on his time schedule then it makes forward progress and this podcast is definitely a good example of that.

He waited to reveal it to him until he gained his attention and became his Lord. That's the other thing we talk about encountering God. The first place we encounter Him is that we have to give our lives over to Him.

Jackie Greene (22:27)
Yes, yes, what we call in the Christian faith being saved. So we ask him to forgive our sins and then we ask him to be Lord of our life. And that is, think, one of the major steps that is missed. People say, I'm saved. I asked God to forgive my sins. That's only half of it.

Valerie Brown (22:46)
Yeah.

Jackie Greene (22:46)
I mean, they missed the part of that means I have to surrender my whole being to the will of God and then be willing to follow him. So that's where a lot of struggle comes with, maybe new Christians. mean, something that really needs to be taught stronger and learned that you can ask for forgiveness and you are forgiven and you are saved. But if you don't work in the premise that God has for us and realize he's Lord of your life, it's just going to be a constant struggle, constant. And you don't get to that peace and that freedom that we really can have in Jesus Christ.

Valerie Brown (23:18)
Mm-hmm.

Jackie Greene (23:25)
People push back on that because they like to run their own life and be in charge. But God is our creator and he wants what's best for us. So why wouldn't we want to follow? It's just like,

Valerie Brown (23:29)
Mm.

Jackie Greene (23:38)
You create something, you want to care for it, you want to guide it, you want it to fulfill its purpose, whatever it is you create. He created each of us, so he has our best interests at heart and we can fully trust him. It may not go how we think, but that's the whole point. How we think is very limited. God knows the big picture.

Valerie Brown (23:51)
Yeah.

Yeah,

So there's a good example there too. And so the person doesn't need to be afraid that, okay, if I give God leadership of my life, he's gonna ask me to do something that's gonna make me miserable, or I'm not gonna be able to do it. Can you speak to that?

Jackie Greene (24:18)
Not to sound harsh, but it's not about you and it's not about your happiness. So basically you need to understand that there is a bigger picture in life and you are just one part of the whole scheme. And yes, God cares about us. It's not that he wants us to be miserable. He doesn't intentionally make us miserable, but all of the circumstances in this life are not geared to our happiness.

God wants us to have a relationship with him and help other people come into relationship with him through the love that he has, the as for us, that we can give others. So we're going to be uncomfortable. If there is not tension in your life in some of these areas, I would question, if you're too comfortable, I would question maybe what is happening.

Valerie Brown (25:07)
Yeah. In my own life right now I'm being challenged to love somebody close to me who can act very unlovely and I want to go away but God is assuring me that yes, if I yield to His love, then that love can go through me. I'm receiving for myself knowing that I was horrible. I was an enemy of God and I wasn't lovely. And there's no reason God should have come near me and He shouldn't have poured all of His love and His sacrifice into my life, but He did do that.

And this person in my sphere here, God loves that person and I may be the only example of Jesus that this person has in their life. So yes, it's not comfortable. It's not comfortable holding my tongue or doing the right thing or staying in the room or trying to find a soft answer. But it is good and it's possible as long as I'm yielding to the Lord.

Yeah, so it isn't always easy. And Paul he did suffer a lot. He persecuted the Christians, but he also was persecuted and went through a lot in his life. Our listeners don't have to be afraid. when God calls us to a certain thing, we are going to have the capacity to receive.

everything that's needed so that we can fulfill the purpose that he has for us.

Jackie Greene (26:30)
Yes, and I mean our promise is in heaven, our promise is an eternity, in God's kingdom. And we will have more than we can imagine. We will have joy and be happy, unending. And that's where we will get to receive those things that we would really like to have here all the time.

Valerie Brown (26:36)
Mm.

Jackie Greene (26:52)
This is just a period of time. It's just a season and we will move on to be with God if we are truly saved.

Valerie Brown (26:57)
Yeah.

Yeah, the brokenness of this world and strife and the troubles and trials, we'll still have all of those things even if we're walking in our purpose It doesn't mean that all of a sudden we're in this oasis and everything is just right there for us. We will be walking through the desert. We will be in the wilderness We will encounter very trying things, but we're going to encounter those things anyway in this life. So if we are doing it with God, we are receiving help from heaven. And I just hope that that rings in our listeners ears. When we are walking and encountering God, we can be receiving help from heaven because we're actually working with the one who runs the heavens and the earth, you know? To try to do life alone without the Lord, it's scary, it's troublesome, and we're left without help. It's not a good place to be. Yeah.

The devotion points, I saw three when I was kind of summarizing this. The first one is God knew you before you were born and had a plan and an assignment for your life. ⁓ I'm hoping that the listeners can really trust that that's true, that God as their designer does have a plan and an assignment for their lives. Point number two in the devotion is although God has a plan for your life, He needs your attention and your life and that is through the Lord Jesus. When he gets our attention the first thing is our saying, God, I realize that you're God and I'm not and I need to be right with you and I do want you in my life and would you come into my life and would you take the leadership position in my life and forgive me my sins and help me to live each day for you. That is giving the Lord your attention and your life.

And then the third thing we talked about is that an encounter with God requires us to adjust ourselves to the activity of God that has been revealed. again, it's a day to day thing. for years I would say to a good friend who was a coach, I I still don't know my purpose. I was working my full time job and yes, it was meeting certain needs and I felt like I was making a difference, but I always felt there's something more, I know this isn't my purpose, this isn't my misssion. I don't know what it is, It seemed like it was out there, and I just didn't know what it was to get to it.

In my career I knew that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sitting at a desk. I just knew that I was supposed to be out there in some way. So then I had a chance to take a different direction and a different vocation. So I did that and I had my own business. I was able to share God as well as help people with their pain and their dysfunction in their body. That was extremely fulfilling there as well. But then I got another stirring. I feel like there's something more. feel like I need to lay that aside and be more involved with ministry. And that's why I became more involved with your ministry, Celebrate Life. that brought so much joy, and it still does. And this podcast was birthed out of that too. So I think now it's more overt ministry, but I don't want our listeners to think that it has to be something to do with church or something to do with preaching or...religious activity. Can you talk to that a little bit?

Jackie Greene (30:47)
Absolutely, yeah, you're correct, right. Everybody isn't called to be a pastor or run a ministry or, you know, whatever. There's a variety of things and honestly the most powerful thing is to be Jesus in your workplace, in the secular world.

Valerie Brown (31:01)
Mm. Love that.

Jackie Greene (31:03)
You know, in your home. Just be about Jesus. The very practical things that you can do to turn your attention to God and to hear from him is praying, is reading the Bible, is all the things that sound, that's just what every pastor is going to say, right? Well, that's just the fact. If you want to learn something, if you want to have a relationship with somebody, then you have to put some time and effort into it. Reading the Bible is not just for knowing the history, which it's very good to know the history of God and creation and Jesus, but it's also to hear from God. We know the peace that gives us the power is the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, receiving fully God's Spirit and learning how to, ⁓ you know, just like those promptings you've been mentioning. so when we read the Bible, pray before you read, God help me to understand. I mean, there's plenty of things I still read I really don't understand.

There's commentaries to every Bible that you can look up and read more, praying, the journaling, what you hear.

Excuse me there, my computer was wanting to be done. So I had to get it plugged into the electric. Like God is our electric, we have to plug into it, right? ⁓ Yeah, so I mean, we have to put time and effort into it. It's not just a magical thing that happens. We're going to get frustrated, we're gonna say I don't understand the Bible. we can have all the excuses in the world. Just keep it simple. Each day, keep it simple.

Valerie Brown (32:15)
Yeah, yes, that's for sure. ⁓

Yeah. Jesus taught his disciples, the people who walked with Jesus. They had to learn his ways. Yes, they had physical Jesus there, but we have Jesus, as you said, in the word, and we have Holy Spirit with us.

Sometimes he teaches through the word; sometimes he teaches through a brother or sister who knows the Lord; or it might be through going to church and hearing the message. It might be from the devotion or it might be something in life and he's teaching you and he's giving you direction. It starts with opening up our heart and really wanting to know God and wanting to know what he has for us. I'm just really thankful that you brought out how we can know God and how we can find out how to follow him.

To apply this for our lives, I thought of three questions. And the first one being, are you prepared to encounter God today?

Question number two, is your heart ready to hear what he's saying to you? Is it ready? Is it open? Is it expectant? And question number three, are you ready to give him the lead in your life to know and walk in his purpose for you?

Do you have any closing thoughts, Jackie?

Jackie Greene (33:56)
My answers to those questions are yes, yes, and yes. And so I pray that the listeners will, even if they're fearful, they will just say yes. It's OK. Just say yes.

Valerie Brown (33:59)
Mmm.

I love that. Will you offer a prayer for our listeners?

Jackie Greene (34:12)
my, absolutely, I'd be glad to.

Valerie Brown (34:14)
Wonderful.

Jackie Greene (34:15)
Heavenly Father, as we ⁓ conclude this time together, Lord, we continue to pray your presence among whomever is listening to this at any day and time. Lord, we know that you see them, that you hear them, and that you want to hear from them as well. So we just pray open communication. We pray ⁓ against any fear. Lord, we pray that there would be an excitement in them to know that this is even possible in their life too. That is one of the deepest things in my heart is for people to understand from my experiences that I'm just an average person that sought you and it is for everyone. There's nothing special other than our saying yes to you so I pray that they will give you their yes in Jesus name. Amen.

Valerie Brown (35:05)
That was so perfect. All right,

We pray that we have answered some of those big questions. Knowing our purpose begins with knowing God. And from there, we live it out day by day by encountering Him. We thank you for being with us and encountering us today. So from Jackie and I, we say,

God bless you, dear friend.