I did not know that the first time that I read Malachi that it means Messenger. I still did not know that the next dozen or so times that I read it. I did not even know a book of Malachi even existed until August 27, 2007. That day, Malachi was a Messenger to me from God. NOW it all makes sense to me! On that very morning, I pulled a bible off of the bookshelf. I cried out to God with all of the power I had left in me and asked "Please tell me what to do. I will do whatever you tell me to do. Just please give me direction." Up to that point, I had not really read from my bible in YEARS. I didn't think I could. It was like reading a foreign language to me. I then read the table of contents. I said to God "How are you going to tell me something through your word when I don't even know where to look. OK, how about the last book of the Old Testament." And there it was. My answer. I had to read it three times over before I could believe how God clearly spoke to me. From the NIV in bold type at the very end:
Judah Unfaithful
10 Have we not all one Father
[c] ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
11 Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob [d] —even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. [e] So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself [f] with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
I told Him I would do what he said and I have. I continue to seek Him and do His will. As Maria keeps repeating over and over to herself, "Thy will be done." Because of that, He moves mountains for us. His work is not done yet but I am in AWE in what He has already done with us.
How can you not love a family as caring and beautiful as this? I LOVE these guys! And I don't say that about too many people : )
