The God Who Sees Me: Finding Hope in the Darkness | Eric Heylen
Good morning, everybody. It is good to be in the house of God, to be able to worship his name, to bless him and to exalt his name. And it is good to be back in Wales. I normally come to Wales to break away from ministry, not to be in ministry, so I feel really honored to be up here. Tricked by the one that's supposed to love me and cover me, but that didn't happen. So we'll see what happens.
I thought I’d wear my best dress for the occasion. If you don't understand my accent, it is English. I was told that is English even though the background of it is from a South African background. So I sometimes say things that sound strange. It is English. And if you need an interpreter, you can get hold of my wife afterwards, and she can tell you exactly what I said. You're laughing, but I have had that happen before. "Did he really say that?" "No, he said this." People walk away thinking, oh, what was that all about?
Before I open up in prayer, while we were worshipping, I just felt the stirring of God. It's just a word, and I just felt God wanted to say, maybe to somebody this morning, that the journey that you find yourself walking on, you find yourself asking, "God, what are you saying? What are you doing? I feel alone, I feel isolated, I feel as if there's no one there." I just want to read this passage from Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17.
God is wanting you to know this morning, as you lie in your bed at night, and as you allow the thoughts to run through your mind, as to what is your next step, as you wonder to yourself what holds in my future, God is simply saying know this today, my child, that I am the God who sings healing and deliverance over you as you lay and rest.
Let's pray. Father, in Jesus name, you know every heart, every person seated here in the house this morning. Father, they are on a journey, and you have the outcome. Father, thank you this morning that you can remind us that in the stillness of the night, you would sing over us. Your presence would cover us. And father, as you delight in us, thank you, thank you that so often we don't see ourselves as having been a delight to you, but you delight in us, that you would sing over us in Jesus name. Amen.
My Text and My Story
My text this morning… I'm not one of those modern speakers, you know, with all the fancy, fancy stuff that comes up on the screen. I'm one of those old stock, one of those guys. This pad is recently new even though it's been a few years. I used to have pads and papers, you know, to write my notes. I've promoted myself to a pad. When it works… it's not fancy, is it? When you pick one up at the shops for £35, you know, maybe they work?
If I had prepared, I probably would have put something up there that says, and I would like you to repeat this after me: Beer Lahai Roi. I want to expand on that, what it means for you, what it means for me, and the reason why I want to expand this. There was a story in my life that I want to share with you a little bit so that we can get into the cracks of the word and then I can open that up.
The story that I want to share with you is a journey that I found myself in a moment in my life a few years ago. Oh, darkness, my old friend, you are again. I'm looking across the church here this morning. I'm looking across the house and I can't see anybody who knows what darkness is. What is darkness? It normally has a few friends who go along. When darkness seems to come into your life, it has a party, but never on its own. It invites disappointment, it invites discouragement, it invites despair, it invites all the 'D's basically. And when they are together, they have a party, not in your heart, but in your mind. And they have this kind of conference going on up here. And you think to yourself, where do you fit in the story of darkness?
At the end of that conference, the one who had the loudest voice is normally the one that takes you on that kind of a journey. Today, in that darkness, you may find disappointment, and then tomorrow, when you wake up, oh golly, it's despair. And you find yourself dancing all over the show.
There was this journey I found myself on. This man of faith, this man of God, this man who trusts God for everything in my life. I have learned what it is to walk by faith. I've seen God move in ways when we live this beautiful life, as he puts it. We went to a place called Bognor. Bognor? I mean, who comes up with a name like that? Well, anyway, Elim thought to themselves, let's put a church there. And amongst the eight and the three that were there fighting with each other, we took that church on, knowing nothing was happening and it really looked really bleak and like a bummer basically.
Oh, by the way, I do speak strangely. Words make sounds come out of my mouth. I do funny things. My family knows that I'm sometimes weird, and I've got a big stage here this morning, my golly, I've got a big space.
We embarked now, and I've seen God move. I mean, I ask myself, "God, what are we gonna eat today?" I didn't have any income. Friends, if you go on a journey of faith, don't always expect it to always happen like you like it to happen. Going home, coming home, and I said to him, "What are we gonna eat today?" Two kids in the back of the car. We get to our home, and there's a chicken fully cooked hanging on our front door. Wow. And you think to yourself, okay, God, I got it. You're faithful, you're true, you're all those wonderful things. It's lovely to be surrounded by the good news of the word of God. It's always great when God is moving in your life.
So why on earth, Eric, are you talking about darkness this morning? We want to hear a word that is encouraging. We don't want to hear about disappointment. But truth be told, church, we are not excluded from the trials and the tribulations and the challenges life likes to throw down the gauntlet, am I right?
So darkness, my old friend, here you are. Despair, discouragement. There was a stage in my life, this man of faith, this man who believes in God for the miraculous, I believe in the supernatural. I really, really, really do. I've seen God do some incredible stuff. So why on Earth if I'm a man of faith, a man who truly trusts God, a man who really wants to walk the walk of faith, and you have seen God move, how can darkness today be my friend? How is that possible?
I know his word well, I think I know his word enough to know that if I need a passage that I can speak to my life, refresh my mind, tell that conference to shut up and walk away, so that I can have the good word of God settling me high. Can darkness be my friend?
Friends, I want to say to us here this morning, the darkness sometimes just comes, whether you like it or not. It's how we approach it and how we work through it, and how we say, "God, what's going on?" So darkness surrounded me in this moment in my life.
When Prayer Feels Unanswered
I don't know about you guys, are you all great warriors of prayer? You know, the people who get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, you put your coffee to the one side—well, in our new world it's tea, am I right? Oh, yeah, tea. Coffee is the drink of heaven. If you don't know, it really is.
I found myself as darkness was my new occupier, not that I wanted it, it just came. I tried to do everything to stop it, to do nothing about it just popped in, and so darkness was there. And in that stage of my life, I mean, I do believe in prayer, by the way. I really do. For myself, why is my prayer floating? Yeah, it seems to be going nowhere. You see, sometimes we ask ourselves, "God, what's going on? Why is prayer suddenly such a… really… is anybody out there? Can you hear? Is anybody there listening? Why is it just there floating, bouncing, coming back down?" And often you think, well, I thought I was praying in faith. I really was, but often we don't.
So my prayers were floating and I just felt that nothing was transpiring, nothing was going apart. And as I would wake up in the morning and get involved with the schedules of the day, you get these people that come into your life. And often it happens when you're in a kind of a place where you're low and you get all these happy people. Life is great. They are thriving. I mean, they're beaming, they're like, "Hey, hey, the world is on fire." You look at their life and in their prayer room, and I mean, they go get it, they're really on fire for God and you… and you think to yourself, oh darkness, would you just like to leave? But it just doesn't wanna go away.
Everybody around you seems to be encountering the very promises Jesus came to give. "I have come to give life and life in abundance." And you ask God, "Hey, what about me? Any little bit of measure, the scraps that fall off the table, you know, anything." Longing for that abundant life, but no, darkness, despair, disappointment, discouragement, all the 'D's are just there having a party.
A Season of Profound Darkness
The stage in my life is when I was going through a very difficult moment. It was a time in my life when my sister was passing away with stage 4 manual cancer. There was a moment in my life where not only was she dying of cancer, but she was also suffering and battling through what it's called degenerative something or monial… no, nomonial. I wrote it down, so fancy big words. But she was fighting an autoimmune disease and stage 4 manual cancer throughout her body. And then she had no defense. Her immune system had collapsed, no ways to get through. But see, here I am. I'm the man who believes God, who heals, the God who raises the dead. You know, death can tell you even on her last breath how fast he is the God of the resurrection, the God who does the impossible. If he can do it, then he can do it now. If he can do that for the guy in Brazil, he can do it for the guy in Wimborne.
My sister, as she was passing slowly, rather than seeing her getting back to us, she was going worse and worse and worse. I'm sure none of you know what's written in Psalm 10, verse 1. It began to be that kind of song in my heart. It reads like this: "Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why, Lord, do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"
Here is a moment in my life, I really needed him, I had encountered him, I've seen him, I had moments in my life where I've seen the God in whom I believe and trust. It's in the moment when I need him the most. Where is your light? I need you in my life. I need hope. I need you to move and shift, stir things about things. I stand and preach on healing. I stand in churches and command healing. I believe in deliverance, not afraid to talk about the things of God. Because you see, I really do believe in the goodness of Jesus Christ. Yes, I really do.
Oh, darkness, here you are again. I'm sure none of you know what darkness is. Got a great preacher. I believe great church. All is good in the house. Darkness, why you're here again.
The incredible thing is I was seeing my sister slipping away. If anybody had known my sister, she was a woman full of life. We got on well with each other, we understood each other, and in a moment as things… as she understood that time was up, she asked me, she asked me, "Eric, will you do my funeral?" Which I said, "Okay, sis, I'll do that for you. I'll do anything, I'll do anything."
And as we were getting ready as she passed, as we were getting ready to go to the chapel for me to do the service, I get a phone call from South Africa. Remember Psalm 10, verse 1, "Oh, Lord, why are you hiding your face from me?" And on that very morning, just as the hearse was just about to come down, I get the phone call on my mobile phone. And here on the other side is my mom. She just tells me that dad had just passed overnight.
I mean if you can't get a double whammy like that, I don't know what you can get. Where are you, Lord? Where are you? Don't you know my heart is crying? Don't you see my pain and my agony? And Lord, as if darkness is not enough, how much more can I carry right now? Darkness, my old friend.
The Story of Hagar: A “Nobody” Seen by God
I wanted to set this as a story, because I want to take you to a young woman in the Bible, who goes by the name of Hagar in Genesis Chapter 16. A young woman who, so to speak, has the whole world in front of her, even though she's a slave girl.
So if I could ask them to put Genesis 16 up, and if you have a Bible, you can look it up there. Apparently, as I walked in here, I got told that you guys don't do the NIV, but you got some other translation, not sure how true that is. But never mind, Mister Michael, but I need to have the NIV today. Oh, they've got the best Bible on the planet, the gifted, the anointed version. There we go. So let me read from mine, and you guys can read up there.
In Genesis 16, verse 1: "Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’ ‘Your slave is in your hands,’ Abram said. ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’ Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ The angel added, ‘I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.’ The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.’ She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael."
What I want to share with us this morning as I describe a kind of a story of my journey, this place where I was in darkness and despair and discouragement when everything seems to be going pear-shaped. And it was once also good. The house was great, things were going well, and until this sad news that just cropped up out of the blue. Get a phone call from my sister, "By the way, I've got cancer." Alright, well, that's treatable. "Not this one, stage 4." Oh, and then you find yourself in that place.
I'm looking at the story and the reason why I want to bring this to you, because this is the story that spoke to me when I needed God. When I felt he was outside, and I was nowhere to be, and he was nowhere to be seen. I felt as if there was no other one around me. I needed something from God, and this particular scripture came alive in my heart, and not because what God says to Hagar, that matters most is rather about how Hagar reflects on the encounter she encounters when God comes to her at your place of need.
Hagar's Place of Isolation and Rejection
And I want to address this morning, because so often when we find ourself in the place of darkness, I know about me that when I was in our place of darkness, I needed someone who would be able to hear me out, someone who would understand my heart, someone who feels my agony, someone who understands and recognizes, "I'm really lonely right now. I need help. You can't keep hiding your face from me because I am really in a place of agony, and my world is collapsing and falling apart." That's where I was, and I needed someone who's able to hear me and feel me and understand me.
I'm looking at this young lady, and I want to unpack who is Hagar, this Egyptian girl, because so often we forget to recognize that when we look at the book of Genesis, the main characters in the book of Genesis is predominantly Abram and Sarai, and the promises that God gives to them and the future that looks for them. But somewhere in this little story of this great wonderful man called Abram and Sarai, we have this slave Egyptian girl, Hagar. She's actually a nobody in the story of purposes and plan.
Ideally when you look at the story of Abram and Sarai, who is Hagar, this Egyptian girl? You see when you look at her life, you begin to ask the question, what has she got to say about her life? How much right has she got for herself? When the idea of Sarai crops up and says to Abram, "You know what, let me help God out." Can I encourage you? God doesn't need any help, alright? Come on, really. Because whatever Sarai thought was, well, it didn't help much.
So here we are in the story of Hagar. I look at what Sarai does and says, I begin to wonder, hang on a minute. Hagar did not have even the right to protect and preserve her own body. You see, when Abram rocks up, she couldn't say no to him because you see, he's the master and she's just the slave girl. She's irrelevant. When a story goes really pear-shaped, you know when the camp was at peace and full of joy and everything was going well, guess what? It goes really bad. We read it.
Sarai had access to someone who she could complain to—a little slave girl. Who did she complain to? Who was willing to listen to her story and recognize the agony in her heart? Because you know what? There might be a reason why she was maybe having a go at Sarai, as Sarai may have been having a go at her. Suddenly, the peace in the camp was no longer there, but Sarai had access to her husband Abram and was able to complain and raise her views about what's going on. See, someone for Sarai was listening, someone for Sarai was able to recognize and understand what's going on possibly in her life.
And then I look at this great man, Abram, who we do love, and I do love Abram, I love his story. It's simply this, those words he says back to Sarai, "Well, you know what? Sarai, she's your slave girl, you know what? Do whatever you want with her." I begin to wonder, hang on a minute, aren't you the guy who just slept with her? Aren't you the guy who made her pregnant? How can you dare say that? Where is your responsibility, sir? How can you just suddenly pass the problem over and say, "That's not my problem, it's your problem," not interested. You know why? He's not interested because Hagar is just the slave girl, she's nobody, she's irrelevant, she's insignificant, here today gone tomorrow, well your case, I'll get another.
When you think about the slave young girl, this Hagar, you begin to ask yourself a question, hang on, how is it that she is a slave in the first place? You begin to wonder, what is her historical records that gets her there? Did mum and dad die, and she found herself as a young girl with no support, that even though community began to reject her and said, "You know what, we don't want you to be our problem. So, you know what? We saw some rich guys walking past, off you go, we're selling you off."
And she finds herself in a place where she's at. And as the story unfolds, here is a young woman, and she's pregnant, by the way. And I asked myself the question, okay, who's gonna want to marry her now? Nobody wants her. Abram says to Sarai, "Well, do with her whatever you want, I'm not interested." I want you to understand this young girl is a woman, and she's a human being. Do human beings have feelings?
She's found herself in a place where suddenly she finds herself very isolated and very alone and very broken. And I can only but imagine if darkness became her friend, 'cause no one seems to recognize her and understand her. I begin to wonder how much disappointment is on her rocking up, how much despair, how much discouragement is beginning to fill this young woman. And on top of that, she's pregnant with a man who says to his wife, "Well, you know what? She's not really my problem. She's yours."
Friends, I don't know how you deal with rejection and how you deal with being pushed out of sight, but I know it hurts. It hurts a lot. And in my place of darkness, it's not just that my sister was passing away. You see, I understood that my sister was passing away. And I recognize that as she was passing away, I know she got saved. You know why she got saved? Because this old brother got her to a place of knowing Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Saviour. So I'm excited the news that my sister's name is written in the Lamb's book of life, and she's in glory waiting for me. And I can tell you what she's telling the Lord—a lot of things about her brother, as if the Lord doesn't know.
But the thing is this, it wasn't just the fact that I was losing my sister. The agony of losing my sister is because I was losing a part of my story with her. She was my sibling, she's my only sister. I was losing a part of my childhood. My connection with my sister was the most important to me. And so when I was calling out to God, "Do you hear me? Do you feel my agony and my pain?" As my darkness became darker and darker and darker that I began to ask, "You know what? God, where are you?" Because I seem to be raising a story. I've got a complaint. Not I've got a complaint against God, but you know you have a story in our prayer life. We like to tell God what's going on in our life as if he doesn't know, but nevertheless we're about to give him the halls to bang. And so we speak to God, and I began to speak to God, "Where are you? Why you not responding? Why is heaven so silent? Why are you hiding your face from me?" And darkness.
The God Who Sees the “Nobody”
I'm looking at this woman, and I'm asking myself the question, oh God, what's going on in her heart? This woman who finds herself completely isolated, rejected, pushed to one side, not wanted. So the only thing she does, she draws a line somewhere in the sand and decides to make a run. She puts on a pair of good Nikes and she makes a run to the nearest place. Her load is heavy. She gets herself to a well.
And this is what the story really comes alive. I don't want to tell you about what God says to her. I want to tell you about her encounter because in that moment when the angel began to speak to Hagar, remember Abraham in Genesis 15. When you go read Genesis 15, angels come to Abram, began to speak to him. Abram is the main story, he's the main character in the story, he's the guy who's got it all. He's the man, he's not just Abram, he's Abraham. He's always going well with Abram. And so in Genesis 15, what we have is that we've got God who comes to Abraham, and Abraham has a personal encounter with God, and he gets this wonderful incredible truth about his future and about what's going on.
But hang on, in Genesis 16, we have this nobody, we have this irrelevant, insignificant woman, a slave from Egypt. She gets the same, same wonderful encounter of the God of Israel. And I want to address that, because you see the God you and I serve does not overlook your miseries. He doesn't overlook you for whatever reason. He understands you, he sees you. That's the key. He sees you where you are at.
And often time we go through life, through the journeys of the highs and the lows, through the disappointment and the discouragement, and we wonder what is it in my future. And we forget that sometimes the God who saw Hagar is the same God who sees you now at your place where you are in darkness. He is true, and he is faithful.
The Shift from Believing to Knowing
You see, when I was in my place of darkness, when I was sitting on the couch at home with friends, and I heard the news that my sister had passed, I wept and wept and wept that I could no longer weep, but I continued to weep. The agony and the pain was not that because my sister passed away. It's because "Where are you?" We are… you… and the catch, the catch I want to share with you, the catch, when you find yourself having a personal encounter with the God of Israel, with the God of heaven and earth, when Jesus comes to where you are at seated in the place of darkness and agony, when you have this moment of encounter, everything in your life changes.
Why am I saying that? Because in that place of encounter, what God does in the miraculous is that he shifts you from a place of faith, and he moves you into a place of knowing. You see, you no longer have to believe that he is, because when you're in your place of encounter, he changes your mindset that you no longer have to believe. You know, you know, you know, you know.
When I look at the story of Hagar in our storyline through her journey, through her moment with Abram and with Sarai, I have often wondered to myself how many times she heard him speak about the God he had encountered. She may have heard him, heard about, had been spoken about the God of Israel. But suddenly there at the well, at the well she encounters the very God who Abraham encountered in Genesis 15. And suddenly her faith is shifted from just believing to now knowing. Look at her words, her words so powerful: "You are the God who sees me." Not the God who will see me, not the God who saw me in the past, but the God who sees me. El Roi.
I want to say that to you this morning. Friends, brothers and sisters, there are times in our life that you can't avoid the darkness. But I want to encourage you in the place of darkness with despair and disappointment and discouragement, all the things that seem to go wrong in your life, I want you to take a pause and go back to the story, because the God in that story is the same God who sees you now. He is there, he is there and there he speaks.
My Encounter with the God Who Sees Me
And there, when I was in my couch weeping, my heart feeling not that my sister passed away, the feeling, "God, I had longed for you to hear me. I needed someone to recognize me." Hagar needed somebody that would see her and recognize her for the person she is at. He shows up. God shows up there in my living room, and in that moment, I'm in a lot of turmoil, by the way.
And in that moment, I just began to feel a presence like I've never felt before. And I've encountered his presence before, but that moment, that moment when I'm sitting in the couch, broken, weeping, the agony of my heart was so hard that I had something battle debris, the pain was so huge. I felt the presence that would cover me. And it just seemed to overcome me, not in a negative, but in a very powerful and beautiful way. His arms began to envelope me, and I began to hear him speak words that would bring comfort, words that would bring joy to my heart. He began to speak words that would reassure me. "Eric, I have not forsaken you. I have not overlooked you. I have not ignored you," even though I could not understand. "But why, Lord, did you let her die when I know that you can heal her? I know that you could have healed her and raised her." I didn't get an answer for that, but it doesn't matter. I needed someone to see me where I am at. I needed someone to hear me.
You see those words of Hagar, "the God who sees me," the one who sees me tells me a lot of things. He tells me that he is the God not only he sees her, but the God who knows her intimately. Everything about your life is known by God. Don't ever assume that the devil likes to tell you, though, my golly, he's forgotten about you, has he? He never forgets you.
You Are Always on His Mind
I love what David writes in the song. I've asked myself the question, "God, why is it that you always see us? How is it that you can see me?" Dumb question, I know, but don't worry. God, he sees me. The God, he sees me.
Look at the encounter. This uneducated slave girl knew that in a moment of her life, she had met the God of Israel and was able to walk away to tell the tale. "I have seen the Lord." Powerful, friends, the intensity of that.
And in that catch, when the Lord put his arm around me and comforted me and spoke words into my heart, I knew that he was never away. I knew that he was always there, and in that moment, strength. And as I was able to rise from that couch, he began to speak again, reminding me of the good time that I was able to lead her to the joy that I was able to teach her about Jesus Christ, that I was able to baptize her. Now in our baptism, I am great. My sister is waiting for me in heaven, and that's good news, that's great news.
Why, Lord, that you can see me. And I'm gonna close with that, and I'm hoping that this will inspire you as well.
I know that as husband, we wake up in the morning, the first thing, especially for me, that is when I wake up in the morning, the first thing that's on my mind is not my wife, it's my cup of coffee that I have to go make. When I make my cup of coffee, that's in my thought. I get told I can have my cup of tea too. By the way, why is that important, friends? It's important because I want to encourage you as I close, I said that already, but as I close in Psalm 139, verse 17 to 18, David writes about the immensity of God's thoughts, and he speaks about how vast are your thoughts. He talks about who could possibly count them, who could possibly measure them. And in verse 18, he says these words: "But I am always with you." And the context of the verse is simply this that each and every day, each second of your life, you are always and forever be on his thoughts. You're never out of his thoughts. He always thinks about that, he always thinks about me, and then he thinks about you.
Let's put it out there. Let's clear the air. God loves anybody who's from South Africa. You know why? Because God loves the green and gold above anything that's red, blue or white.
A Closing Prayer and Encouragement
I want you for a moment where you are seated, I would like to encourage you to begin to speak to yourself, especially if you find yourself where you may be in a kind of a dead zone. Jesus said these words: "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you." The devil likes to tell you that he is very busy, and your problem is puny, minor, irrelevant. The devil likes to tell you that you are not that important, he's got bigger problem to deal with. As big as the problem are in Palestine, your life matters to him just as much. You are in his thoughts, and he sees you. And when that moment comes that he needs to come to you, he shall come.
So could I ask you this morning where you are? Could you say to yourself, "Father, thank you that you see me. Father, thank you that I am in your thoughts."
Let's just pray. Father, God, thank you for this morning. Father, I know that when Michael and Emma had this kind of conniving scheme there at a conference, the very word you gave me as I was travelling back home, you gave me Beer Lahai Roi, the God who sees me. As a father for whoever is in this house here this morning, he feels as if no one cares, no one understands me, no one can feel my pain, no one can see me for truly, for who I am. I want to pray Lord, God that right now, by your spirit, that you would reveal yourself, that they too can have an encounter just like Hagar had there at the well where she saw you and heard you speak into her life, and not only gave her to speak, but you gave her a moment and a future. Will you speak those words into these hearts that find himself in the place of pain and of suffering and of agony? Father, I ask in Jesus wonderful and precious name, amen. Amen. Hey, God bless.