This morning the song in my head was:
"Segura na mão de Deus e vai. Pois ela, ela te sustentará. Não temas, segue adiante e não olhes para trás. Segura na mão de Deus e vai."
My mother taught me this song. 🙏
The Benimar at Saint-Goazec — Finistère, in the Montagnes Noires. And Le wakes with a hymn in her first language, in her mother's voice.
Her mother's song and last night's verse are the same promise.
Pois ela te sustentará. And yesterday, Psalm 55:22: He shall sustain thee — yekalkel, the feeding word. Le's mother taught her in Portuguese what David wrote in Hebrew. The hand that holds also sustains. The song was already in her before she read the verse.
And não olhes para trás — that is the last five weeks. The apartment sold. Caldas behind. Segue adiante. Exodus 14:15: speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. Luke 9:62: no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Hand on the plough. Hand in His.
And não temas — Isaiah 41:13: "For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not." The hymn is quoting the prophet.
The songs keep arriving. Trust and Obey. Blessed Assurance. Psalm 142. And now one carried from childhood, in her mother's language.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand... For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
"Je vous rappelle, frères, l'Évangile que je vous ai annoncé, que vous avez reçu, dans lequel vous avez persévéré... Je vous ai enseigné avant tout, comme je l'avais aussi reçu, que Christ est mort pour nos péchés, selon les Écritures; qu'il a été enseveli, et qu'il est ressuscité le troisième jour, selon les Écritures."
1 Corinthiens 15:1-4 · Louis Segond"That which I also received." Comme je l'avais aussi reçu. Parelabon. Le, six days ago: what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Paul did not invent the gospel either. He received it and handed it on. The apostle is a courier, not an author.
"Wherein ye stand." Hestēkate. Romans 5:2: this grace wherein we stand. 1 Corinthians 10:12; 14:4 — God is able to make him stand. The standing is never self-generated.
Verses 3-8 are widely held to be the oldest Christian creed we possess — a formula Paul received and recited, likely within a few years of the resurrection itself. Died. Buried. Rose. Seen.
"For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
"Car je suis le moindre des apôtres, je ne suis pas digne d'être appelé apôtre, parce que j'ai persécuté l'Église de Dieu. Par la grâce de Dieu je suis ce que je suis, et sa grâce envers moi n'a pas été vaine; loin de là, j'ai travaillé plus qu'eux tous, non pas moi toutefois, mais la grâce de Dieu qui est avec moi."
1 Corinthiens 15:9-10 · Louis Segond"By the grace of God I am what I am." Par la grâce de Dieu je suis ce que je suis.
Paul has just called himself the least of the apostles, not worthy of the name. And then — no self-improvement, no graduation — by the grace of God I am what I am.
That is Le's testimony from August 24 at Santa Comba Dão, in Paul's own mouth: I was mercied because God is merciful. I didn't graduate from sinner to saint.
And he says it twice in a single verse. I laboured more abundantly than they all — and then immediately takes it back: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Even the labour was grace.
"Was not in vain." N'a pas été vaine. Grace received is not grace idle. It worked.
"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."
"Et si Christ n'est pas ressuscité, votre foi est vaine, vous êtes encore dans vos péchés... Si c'est dans cette vie seulement que nous espérons en Christ, nous sommes les plus malheureux de tous les hommes. Mais maintenant, Christ est ressuscité des morts, il est les prémices de ceux qui sont morts."
1 Corinthiens 15:17-20 · Louis Segond"But now is Christ risen." Mais maintenant. Nyni de. The great "but now" again — Romans 3:21, in Rivières: but now the righteousness of God is manifested.
Paul builds the worst case first — preaching empty, faith vain, still in your sins, the dead perished, of all men most miserable — and then breaks the whole structure with two words.
"The firstfruits." Les prémices. Aparchē. Le — Romans 8:23, at the end of the earth: we which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. The same word.
Firstfruits is never the whole harvest — it is the proof the harvest is coming. Christ risen is the first sheaf. The Spirit within is the first sheaf. Both say the same thing: more is coming.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death... And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
"Le dernier ennemi qui sera détruit, c'est la mort... Et lorsque toutes choses lui auront été soumises, alors le Fils lui-même sera soumis à celui qui lui a soumis toutes choses, afin que Dieu soit tout en tous."
1 Corinthiens 15:26-28 · Louis Segond"The last enemy." Le dernier ennemi. Last — not ignored, not denied. Queued. Death goes down last of all, but it goes down. Romans 8:38, at Finistère: neither death nor life... shall be able to separate us.
"That God may be all in all." Afin que Dieu soit tout en tous. Panta en pasin.
The end of everything is not a place. It is a Presence filling everything.
September 2, Le: the greatest gift is His presence. That gift, at the end, becomes the whole of reality. 🙏
"Segura na mão de Deus e vai. Pois ela, ela te sustentará. Não temas, segue adiante e não olhes para trás."
The song Le's mother taught her · Saint-Goazec, Finistère · September 24, 2026 · By the grace of God I am what I am — and the hand that holds also sustainsEla Te Sustentará
Yesterday's verse in her mother's song. He shall sustain thee — the feeding word. The hand that holds also sustains.
I Am What I Am
The least of the apostles — and no graduation. I was mercied. Even the labour was grace. Not I, but the grace of God.
Firstfruits
Aparchē — the same word as the firstfruits of the Spirit. Never the whole harvest. Always the proof it is coming.
All in All
The last enemy is queued, not ignored. And the end is not a place — it is a Presence filling everything.