Coffee With Abba Intro

by Erika Southey

Welcome to my blog.
I don’t come with a theological pedigree.
I just come in faith and simplicity through experience – not just book knowledge.
These excerpts are from actual ‘conversations’ and experiences where God, my heavenly Father intervened and spoke to me.
Most of what you will read, were written at the worst possible moments in my life when throwing in the towel seemed to be the best course of action.
Yet, the Holy Spirit drew me, whispered to me and brought specific scriptures to mind, or simply reminded me of conversations with special people in my life.
He does anwer. He IS Love. He loves YOU. He created you. He is not a miserly miserable old man who is out to punish you. On the contrary …..
He is the most important, incredible and generous being you’ll ever get to meet. Jesus is da bomb! The Holy Spirit rocks!
My blog is not a sermon. God’s been prompting me for a while to start a blog.
It’s simply a conversation with you, and perhaps through my experiences, you will find hope and healing and mostly be encouraged to in faith – speak to your Abba – your Creator. Afterall, you were created in His likeness.

The three most important people to have in your life are:
God the Father
God the Son (Jesus)
God the Holy Spirit

Just a few things before I start sharing.

We live in a world where judgement is passed so quickly, where people are tarred with the same brush and condemned without having all the facts in hand. Rejected, pushed out and written off.

Some use fear to manipulate and even falsely represent God.
My brother and I were talking and he said something profound:
“Ask the person who is sharing an opinion, if it’s religion or if it is the will of God”

Matthew 7 verses 1 – 5 Jesus speaks
7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 
² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 
⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 
⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

20210705 – El Roi – The God Who Sees Me

Psalm 139 verses 1 – 4
Lord, You have searched me and known me.
² You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far away.
³ You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, Lord, You know it all.

Particularly frustrated, annoyed and disappointed, by an incident – well several over a period of time; Psalm 139 consistently came to mind.
People and situations will disappoint you, but God won’t. A lesson I would learn and as I grew in confidence to trust Him, it would become normal to me. One I could vouch for when others complain to me about problems in their lives.

Psalm 139’s main theme resounded how precious God’s thoughts are towards me. There’s nowhere I can run to or hide – He’s there. He doesn’t bully His way into my life. He doesn’t force His will or Himself on me. Afterall, He created us (yes you too) as free beings with a free will to choose.
For the umpteenth time, some past experiences came to mind to show me that the outcome of my current situation will be the same. This was the last straw for me that broke the camel’s back.
Who can argue with the past? If you’re like me you immediately take the trend of bad experiences as the norm.
“See,” I told God. “Exactly the same thing happened. You don’t care and didn’t do what I asked You to.” This including off-course, an entire rant to Him.
Whoa!, back up there for a second missy!
God: ” If only you had listened to my commands! Your peace would be like a river that never runs dry. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.” Isaiah 48:18
Retracting steps (rather sheepishly and like a naughty child), yours truly appologised to Abba.
I said sorry and that I will do it His way. To be cliche – lo and behold, He opened a door for me to another job.

What’s your challenge? You’ve tried the rest – now go for the Best.
Nothing stops you from starting to talk to Him.