Do you ever wonder if God sees you? Or even hears you? If I am honest, I have to admit that I do wonder sometimes. I mean, it’s not like we can see Him in physical form…or touch Him…or audibly hear Him speak to us. So, it’s not surprising that we have times when we wonder.
Is that a bad thing? Do I think that God shakes His head and is disappointed in us when we wonder? I don’t think so. God loves us immeasurably and He understands every emotion…every desire…every concern we have. I believe it is at those times when He wants to show us that He does see us and hear us…even in the little things of life.
You may be wondering what in the world led me to write about this today. Well, it stems from something that happened to me last week. Let me explain. Christmas looks a little different at my house this year. I’m not a huge decorator for any season or holiday…but I usually put up our tree and a variety of decorations at Christmas. This year though has been different because I decided it just wasn’t wise for me to do it. Since I am supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible, setting everything up and then having to put it away again…wasn’t something that made sense.
Now, I’ve been ok with this decision…until last Wednesday. We were having our small group from church over for dinner and not having a festive looking home bothered me. I asked Dan that afternoon to bring in a small ceramic tree which was his mother’s…so we would at least have something with lights. But as I set the table…all I could think about was the fact that the table was bare. I wished I would have at least unpacked something to put down the center…but it was too late at that point and I knew it really wasn’t a necessity.
Dinner was set for 6 pm, but one of the couples texted to say they were running ahead of schedule and would arrive around 5:30 pm…which was just fine with us! We love our small group and enjoy spending as much time with them as possible. As they entered our home, they carried with them the beautiful Christmas decoration in the picture I am sharing in this post. And not just one of them…but four of them! Kathy had lovingly made these as a gift to give each couple.
At that moment…a lightbulb went on in my head and my face lit up. I asked Kathy if it was ok if I put her creations down the middle of our table as decoration. I told her how much it had bothered me to not have anything there and her gifts were just perfect! Of course she graciously agreed with my idea and suddenly everything looked much more Christmas-y!
Was this a coincidence? I don’t think so. First of all, Quinn and Kathy were running ahead of schedule, so they arrived before everyone else. This allowed us to get the table decorated before anyone else appeared. Secondly, of all the things that she could have brought…she walked in with handmade decorations which fit my table perfectly.
This event may not seem too notorious to you…but to me it was just what I needed. It was a reminder to me from God that He sees me. He knows my hurts; those things…however small…that cause me pain. Things that aren’t life or death…but just trigger me to feel discouraged and “less”.
I’ve been thinking since that night, how easy it would have been to just chalk this evening up to luck or coincidence…but I’m so thankful that God impressed on me that this was His way of blessing me. And do you know what? I presume there are blessings all around you too. During those times when life gets you down and you are feeling discouraged…take notice of everything around you. I’m guessing that God is working overtime at those moments to make sure you know that He sees you…He loves you…and wants to encourage you.
And who knows…maybe you don’t need encouragement but someone you encounter does. Maybe they need you to do something special for them so they know that not only you care…but God does too. So, let’s be on the lookout today because I’m guessing there are people all around us who are wondering if anyone really “sees” them. Let’s make sure they know that we do…and so does our Heavenly Father.
“So encourage each other
and build each other up,
just as you are already doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
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