Zarah Everly - The Faithful God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

The
Faithful God of
Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob

ZARAH EVERLY

Copyright 2019 Zarah Everly.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

KJV: Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 (866) 928-1240

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4501-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4500-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4502-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018913430

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/15/2019

CONTENTS

E very morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is spend intimate time with God, my Father. I roll out of bed, go into my prayer closet, and enjoy sweet communion with Him in prayer. Then I step out of my private place, hop back into my bed, and cozy up to read from the Word of God. I am always thirsty and hungry for His presence and truth. I love feeling close to God by praying to Him, praising Him, and reading His Word, the Holy Bible.

I pray to Him and pour out all my concerns, desires, hurts, fears, and love. I praise Him to thank Him for who He is, all He has done, all He is doing, and all He will do. I read His Word because I feel closer to Him when I learn about His character, plan, and person by studying the Holy Spiritinspired testimonies of the saints and learning how He revealed Himself and His love to them.

Then throughout my busy day, when I can sneak away to spend a moment with God, I will open up His Word, tuck my legs under me, and take in the sweet, healing truth that comforts me.

His Word excites and warms me in a way I could never explain. It deepens my love and desire for Him and causes me to anticipate the day He will return and present me with salvation. My greatest pleasure is to spend time with Him.

I share this with you because some will think it odd that someone would be so in love with a God she cannot see. Let me explain to you how I got to this place and why I am so excited to go even deeper into intimacy with the God who created the heavens and the earth.

GODS RELENTLESS LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE

The theme of Gods relentless love for His people, Israel, runs throughout the Bible. He loved Israel with an unfailing, merciful, and gracious love. Though Israel rejected God and continuously served other gods, the Living God showed His people favor and mercy. Even when Gods wrath would come upon Israel for its disobedience, His people would not obey God or turn from their wickedness. Still, God loved them, pleaded with them, and offered them the option of repentance. God would reference His promise to their ancestors as one reason for His mercy toward them ultimately resulting in His glory and faithfulness.

God extends His great love to all who believe and by grace through faith have become His children. What amazing grace and powerful love He offers all. Without it, we would all be doomed. With it, we who believe have life everlasting and peace with God.

THIS STORY

This is my story woven by an amazing, infinite, and all-knowing God. I will tell it in quite an unusual way. When I was writing this book, I thought it was about one thing, but it turned out to be about another. I thought it was about my righteousness, but it was just the opposite. I thought it was about my correctness, but it was just the opposite. I thought it was about how good I was, but it was just the opposite.

During a very difficult time in my life, I put words to paper believing God had given me a great story of victory to share with the world so others would believe in Him as I believe. It was actually a story of a great victory, but the object and source of that victory was not revealed in my heart until long after I had written the greater portion of this story.

So please be patient with me as I start from the beginning with a story written dead smack in the middle of the most painful season of my life. Afterward, I will reflect on what God revealed to me. I pray this will help others better understand the faithful God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and His great love for His people, His children.

CHAPTER 1

A Little Town

I was born in a little town in Georgia. I was the eldest daughter of my mother and father, who had a total of three childrenall girls. We grew up below the poverty line though my dad had a steady job and my mom worked on and off when we were young.

For the greater part of our younger years, we lived in my grandmothers house. Actually, we lived in her garage, which my mom had made into a little home for us. It wasnt as bad as it sounds; it was a nice-sized garage, and my sister and I had bunk beds with Charlie Brown mattresses. I slept on the top. It was to the left of the door as you walked into the garage. A huge, white, freezer and a wooden dinner table were straight ahead. My mother and father had a television and a bed that was the farthest from the door that joined the garage to the house, and their bed was the closest to the garage door leading to the outside. The garage was right next to the kitchen, so that made it easy for my mom to prepare meals and bring them to us. It was not inconvenient for us to reside in the garage because it was unusual for anyone in the house to own a car.

Inside the house, several other families were living including several of my uncles, aunts, cousins, and their significant others. There were four rooms and two bathrooms, and about eighteen people lived there on and off. It was a very busy house plagued by sexual abuse and harmful addictions. Many of the adults who frequented and lived there were alcoholics and drug addicts, and most of the men physically abused their wives or girlfriends. That did not exclude my father. I was exposed to all these things regularly at a young age. As I learned about God, I prayed to Him a lot in hopes of getting help in our tough situation.

My middle sister and I were very close as we were only a year and a half apart. We did everything together. We used our imaginations to come up with games that allowed us to escape our harsh reality. We didnt keep secrets from each other, and we were always the best of friends. We always made each other laugh; we considered ourselves hilarious.

She and I had a way of not talking about the truths of our life when we went off to school and interacted with people outside home. I became a compulsive liar. Almost everything I said lacked honesty, and that went on for years. I fantasized quite often about a better life. I dreamed of my mother and father loving each other and our living in a nice, big home filled with safety and lots of toys and great times.