Va`era--and I appeared

Psalm 36:6

Your love, ADONAI, is in the heavens,

Your faithfulness up to the skies.

God is so beautiful and beyond words, He is worthy of our Praise beyond words and even beyond how much ever we could praise Him.  Look how Full of Love He is. 
Something special is happening.*

I wrote that the other day, I can`t remember exactly what the context was, but it was something in response to learning new things about God in these new weeks of the Exodus (Shemot, which means Names in Hebrew) Torah portions.  This weeks Parsha is VaEra--which translates as, `and I appeared.'

In the first book of Genesis, God lays the foundations as he created the world and all that is in it, brings in the people and we get to know of His promises.  The forefathers never get to see the fulfillment of the promises in their earthly lifetimes, but they live their lives in great Faith in the God who gave them.  Then in the book of Exodus, the forefathers and the 12 sons of Jacob have died, but their descendants live on and are increasingly numerous and filling the land of Egypt.  Remember the promise, the descendants of Abraham would be countless as the number of stars!! Already there is a sense of the countless number and the promises from the beginning being carried out as set forth in the first chapter of Exodus. God prepares to bring the Children of Israel, led by Moses, out of slavery and out of Egypt so they may worship Him.

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am ADONAI."

--from the start of this weeks Parsha Va`era, Exodus 6:2

As we read the Torah together with people all over the world who are reading the same portions the same weeks, I start to feel the presence of God, up in the Heavens, and also  here to meet us and reveal new things about who He is in each reading.  Why do people read the Torah and the exact same portions year after year?? Because God is a living God and there is always new revelation.   His Word is alive.  We are changing and hopefully becoming more and more open to new revelations in them each time we read them.  He stays the same, just waiting for us to draw near to Him and to desire to know Him more.

I will instruct you and teach you 

in the way you should go. 

---Psalm 32:8

 When I saw the cloud front and center above the road, it was coming closer to me, and then poof! a few seconds after I took this photo, it separated。。。 like a fluffy challah！ Then the two halves receded right and left, leaving again a clear expanse of sky.  When when we glimpse that God is there, here, in our midst, the Maker of creation, it sometimes seems as if He even moves His creation closer to us, as He asks us to notice, to keep our paths straight, and to live by His word.

PS did anyone else notice?  I just noticed that the shape of this cloud loosely resembles a challah!

I hope you might like to join in reading the weekly parsha!!
You can find the list of weekly readings,   here. 
You will see that as you start your heart will become lighter, your soul will be lifted, and the heavens will seem closer than they did before!!

Blessings and Shalom!!

Show me your ways, ADONAI.

Teach me your paths.

Guide me in Your truth, and teach me,

for You are God, my salvation, for You I wait all day.

---Psalm 25:4