Our Everywhere Present God

I leaned my head against the window as the plane began to ascend.  

How long will I have to fly alone? I thought to myself, as I pushed my head harder against the window and felt that familiar tinge of loneliness. Another long flight by myself. Another lonely night in a hotel room. Another weekend of ministering to women, yet still feeling the burden of doing it alone.  

Even when you’re ministering to a room full of women, it can still feel lonely, and even overwhelming.  

It wasn’t just the lonely feeling of going to another unfamiliar place by myself. In many ways, the loneliness represented a season of my life. As the plane ascended higher and a layer of clouds covered my view of the high-rise buildings on the ground, I remembered the One who said He'd never let me out of His sight.  

In Psalm 139, David—who must have felt alone at times—rhetorically asked God: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (verse 7 NIV).  

And then he comforted himself with a song he wrote about God’s amazing staying power:  

“If I go up to the heavens (if I'm on top of the world and think I don't need God), you are there; 
 if I make my bed in the depths (if I sink to a place where I am helpless), you are there. 
If I rise on the wings of the dawn (if I move to a place where no one knows me), 
 if I settle on the far side of the sea (or crawl into a cave where no one can bother me again), 
even there your hand will guide me, 
your right hand will hold me fast. 
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me…’ (or if I say "I'm in too deep or too dark of a place for You to follow")  even the darkness will not be dark to you…” (verses 8-12). 

I’m comforted knowing that there’s no place I can go where my God will not follow. Nowhere to run. No place to hide (as if I’d want to). He follows me like a shadow. Not only will He never leave me; He’ll never let me out of His sight.  

There’s also no ministry too tough for Him to equip you and me for the task. And even when we get out ahead of Him, He is there, ready to equip us, encourage us, and send us sisters in Christ to help uphold us when we cry out to Him.  

What are you facing today that you think you’re going into alone? What are you dealing with that you thought no one else knew about or understood? 

You have a friend who “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). And He is ready to go into that situation not just with you, but before you…leading the way, helping you along, and watching your back.  

You also have a network of safe sisters through NEWIM who know what loneliness in ministry feels like and will uphold you in prayer when you cry out for help.  

Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker, writing coach, and author of 17 books who cried out to God for spiritual mentors nearly 30 years ago when she was a young pastor’s wife and Bible teacher. Within weeks of that prayer, God led her to a NEWIM event and surrounded her with a team of godly women who started pouring into her life and praying for her to get her first book contract. Cindi gives back to NEWIM today by volunteering to co-lead (along with Author Kathy Collard Miller) its annual Writers’ Getaway in Three Rivers, CA. You can learn more about Cindi at her website. Join her and Kathy at the Writers’ Getaway Nov. 7-8 by registering here.