It started out as a good day - a day without drama. We were living in the hill country of San Antonio in 2001. I had just dropped off Leigh at her safe, sheltered, Christian school environment and was headed to my first ever "professional faux finishing" class. I was so excited to be trained by a master artisan from Rome, that my mind was swirling with anticipation! However, like most families, we were hiding our on secrets and trying to stay afloat. I was listening to K-love cruising down highway 281 into the city from the Stone Oak area when suddenly the dj stopped the music and said, "We need to pray right now, it looks like a plane just hit one of the twin towers." By the time I arrived at the studio, he announced a second plane had hit.
I sat in my car paralyzed in fear. Like most married women, my first instinct was to call my husband, and then I called my parents reaching out for some sense of reality and assurance. It was surreal... I collected myself and made my way into the studio with the others. We were in shock, but decided to "carry on" in some kind of feeble attempt to cope with the current unknown. And so we painted samples... I began to trowel Venetian plaster and pray. Layering and troweling with the radio in the distance set to low.
In just a short time later they would announce a third plane crash and things began to literally collapse - NYC was on fire. All airlines were grounded. I was called to come pick up my daughter. As a parent does, I kept calm and assured her of her safety - all the while wondering if we were "next." As I prayed and glued to the TV non stop throughout the evening, I was compelled to share hope with my new friends the next day. I scrambled together a teaching on the different covenant names of God - I had been clinging to these names in my quiet time. I was attending a study called "Prayer Portions" by Gloria Gunter - what most of my close friends have come to now know as my purple binder. A study that I would eventually bring back to SC and share with others who needed the same hope I did as we were quickly moving towards divorce - a time that seemed to parallel current affairs of shock and betrayal. Even in the midst of my own pain, it was a privilege to share hope with my fellow artisans from different backgrounds and different parts of the country. We gathered around the table with paint on our hands and looked up to God that day. We came together as one.
Incredibly grateful to all the first responders - saddened by the horrific loss of so many - our country changed forever that day. Who do you turn to in times of grief or anger? God will always be our first responder and we can count on him in these times. "Our covenant with God was established in the once- for-all-sacrifice of the lamb. The New Testament reveals his fulfillment of these in action." So, when your world is rocked upside down, never forget His covenant names with you. If you proclaim Jesus Christ as your God and your savior you are in a beautiful covenant relationship - and that is something never to forget!
El Nissi: God is our Banner of Victory
El Rohi: He is our Shepherd
Jehovah Jireh: Our Priovider
Jehovah Shalom: Our Peace
Jehovah Rophe: Our Healer
Jehovah Tsidkenu: Our Righteosness
Jehovah Shammah: God Who is There
Jehovah M'Kaddesh: Our Sanctification
...never forget...
-Kelly Roberson
