Hi, I am Seth Dahl, Christian author and minister out of Bethel Church in Austin, Texas. Welcome to God Today. Thank you for letting us be a part of your day. Thank you for letting us encourage you and love on you during this time. We appreciate it so much, and we hope these videos are a blessing to you.
I want to tell you today about the first time I remember an encounter with God. I was five-years-old, and I was in kindergarten. At that time, I was one of – if not the only – child in my class who didn’t know how to tie my shoes. And let me just tell you – at five-years-old, I felt so embarrassed. Everyone had tried to teach me every way there is to tie shoes. But, it was like my mind just couldn’t understand how to move the laces properly. For a five-year-old, it was really rough.
But, one day, in class, we all laid down to take a nap. I don’t know if they take naps now, but we took them back then. Every day we took a nap. This one particular day I laid down and I had a dream. In the dream, Father God walks up to me, kneels down at my feet, takes my untied shoelaces, looks me in the eyes, and shows me how to tie my shoes. As soon as the dream was over, I instantly woke up, looked around the room. My teacher was at her desk, the kids were all still asleep, I was like the only kid still awake. And my shoes, when I looked down at them, were untied. So, I sat up, I reached down, and for the first time in my life, I tied my shoes. For the first time in my life, it made perfect sense to me because of the dream, because of what God had shown me.
When I got home, I remember showing my mom how excited I was that I could tie my shoes and she was surprised that I finally got it and she couldn’t figure out how it happened. So, she asked me how it happened and I told her the story. Let’s just say from then on what happened out of that one encounter with God, I have used that skill every single day from that day on. Just tying my shoes.
But here are a couple of things I have learned from that one encounter with God. First, God knows how to help you when no one else can. He knows how to meet you in the places of embarrassment and failure. He knows how to turn them around. I also learned that He can do the same thing for our children. Even if they are really young, He can encounter our kids and meet them in those places and really help them.
As we wrap up today’s video, I just want to pray for you. Father, I pray that you would encounter these people in this way. That you would show them the things that they need for their lives. That you would help them make sense of things that no one else can help them make sense of. And I pray too that if any of them are parents, God, I pray you would encounter their kids this way. You would meet their kids in places where they are struggling, where they are challenged, and where they are not doing well. That you would turn it around for them, God. We would have encounters with you that change everything. We would have encounters with you that pull us out of embarrassment into confidence. Even our kids would wake up in the morning with their whole life different because of a dream from you, God. This is what we pray for everyone watching today and their children if they have them. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Again, thank you so much for watching God Today. We hope these videos are a blessing to you and we will see you sometime soon.