"Who do you say that I am?"

This was the question that Jesus posed to Peter. And the question that He gives to each of us. While we each need to arrive at that answer for ourselves, it helps to know who we are dealing with. I have been blessed to know some very faith-filled women who, when troubles come, they just "give it to God." For about 5 years I have been questioning just exactly how do you do that. What I have realized is that I didn't know Him, only of Him. I couldn't trust Him with anything going on in my life because I didn't know who He is. Is, present tense. I am in a great Bible study called "Lord, Teach Me to Pray", by Kay Arthur. She spends a portion of it teaching the names of God as the people in the Bible knew Him. Some of the names that have meant alot to me are Jehovah-jireh: The Lord Will Provide, Jehovah-shalom: The Lord Is Peace, Jehovah-rapha: The Lord Who Heals, and El-Shaddai: The All-Sufficient One. When I started to learn these names and characteristics of Him, I began to realize what God could be in my daily life. Having said all of that idealistic stuff, life will put me to the test. And when I choose to put Him first instead of my own agenda, things fall into place. Maybe not instantly, but faith says that they will. And here's a really cool for example that I almost missed: I had one block of time this week that could be used to either put money in my pocket (have a stamping party) or prepare for my Bible study. I chose the Bible study. The morning after I cancelled my party the phone rang. A diaper study had a last minute cancellation and could I be there in 45 minutes. The diaper study will pay twice as much as the stamping party would have. What a coincidence, I thought. Then I remembered one of God's names, Jehovah-jireh, The Lord Will Provide. So who do I say that God is? Exactly. God Is. (Hebrews 11:6, check it out.)