When our son Ryan was born in 2001 with Down syndrome, the statistics were 1 in 800 people were diagnosed with Down syndrome. I remember being out in public and wondering why it looked as if we were the only ones. There have to be more than 800. I would whisper to God, saying, “there has to be more than just us here.” I just needed to see others, so that I didn’t feel so alone on our journey.
Our God is called El Roi, the God who sees. He sees us in our despair, fear, and anguish. The Bible tells us Jesus saw those who were overlooked: the blind man sitting at the gate, the woman at the well, the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, and even Zacchaeus, who was in a tree. He stopped with each of them because He saw them. Why did Jesus see them? Because He knew them, and He loved them.
He knows me and he loves me. He will never leave me nor forsake me even when I feel like I am unseen or alone. Recently I had trouble remembering these promises, then one summer afternoon, God gave me a small gift, a reminder that He sees me. As I was coming out of work walking toward my car, I noticed something that stopped me dead in my tracks! There was a heart-shaped shadow on the ground next to my driver’s side door. I stood for a few minutes looking at that heart and looking up at the sky, saying I know, YOU SEE ME, YOU are WITH ME, and YOU will NEVER leave ME (Hebrews 13:5).
We are all walking through something that could make us feel alone or think that Jesus isn’t paying attention to us or what is happening in our lives, but that is a lie because all of his promises are true and if he says He will never leave us than we can truly trust that he won’t. We may have to repeat that promise over and over (I know I have to), but we can wholeheartedly believe it!
Lord, thank you for so much for your promise that I can hold on to and for the gift you sent to remind me.
