Thank You, Dad

Feeling lost and afraid after an evening of watching election results, I found myself needing my dad.  He was the wisest man I personally have ever known. I needed to do what I have done all of my life when I was upset or worried, or just wanting to vent.  I needed to be able to talk to him, share my fears with him, and seek guidance.  But, my dad left this earth over seven years ago. 

Instinct, I think, led me to his Bible.  It is worn out, falling to pieces, and is full of sticky notes and stuff written in the margins.  I use his Bible often, but tonight I didn't necessarily want to read scripture, as much as I wanted to hear from my dad.  So I went straight for the sticky notes.  I intended to pretty much go through the whole Bible and read all of his notes, and there are A LOT of them, but I didn't get beyond the front cover.  He has a bunch of notes there, all stuck together and piled on top of each other.  But I found exactly what I needed on the bright orange sticky note, right on top of all the others.

I love my dad, and I love my Father God!  They both left this message for me; the exact one I needed to receive at the very moment I received it.

James 4:7-8a

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you.

1 John 4:1 & 4

¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

I have read these verses before, but they didn't have quite the same meaning for me as they did this time.  Perhaps nobody else will understand just how differently the message hit me, and that's OK, because I totally get what God was telling me through a note my father left in the front cover of his Bible years ago. 

Thank you, Dad; I'm sure you had no idea what all of your personal notes to yourself would mean to me after you were gone, or how much of a help they would be for me.