El Roi - The God Who Sees Me

Friday afternoon I got together with a friend for Frosty's - yeah, most people get together for coffee... not us! Nothing like a good ol' classic Wendy's Frosty! :-) We chatted between brain freezes and had an awesome time of fellowship together. Her and her husband don't have any kids (other than the 4 legged kind like me) and she was saying how sometimes she feels invisible, like no one sees them. Everything is so centered around families in the church - and that isn't a bad thing...

• But what about the rest of us?
• What about the married with no kids?
• What about the single parents?
• What about the single, never married with no kids?

I know sometimes I feel invisible too. My friend and I talked about how we need to look to God for our acceptance and recognition. I mentioned how I tend to look to Facebook notifications for that acceptance and recognition as I wrote about yesterday. It was awesome to talk with a sister in Christ who relates to a lot of what I have gone through because she has gone through similar things, someone who could empathize with me, someone who I could empathize with.

We shared our hearts.

We shared our concerns.

We shared experiences.

We shared prayer concerns.

It was a blessed and sweet time together.

Fast forward to Sunday morning - before the service I talked to Gabe, our youth pastor. He had done a retreat with the High School kids over the weekend and was bringing the message this morning. I knew he had to be exhausted so I tried to encourage him and remind him he's just the tool - I had no doubt God would use him to bring God's Word to life for our congregation and that God would speak through Him. I gave him the fist bump, then a hug and went and sat down.

We continue our series on the Names of God. Today - The God Who Sees - El Roi. I immediately welled up inside, amazed at how I was just talking with my friend about feeling invisible. I listened to the message with anticipation to hear what God would speak to me.  I'm not going to give the whole outline, but will highlight what spoke to me. The passage we were in is Genesis 16:1-16

Hagar says: So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13

God sees you - and that is tremendously comforting no matter where you are. No matter how alone you may feel, the Truth is GOD SEES YOU. Yes, I have felt alone... so many times. Sometimes because I have pushed others away, other times because I was alone... but the Truth is I was never alone, God always sees me. He is always pursuing me. Hagar was running, just as Adam and Eve were "hiding" from God in Genesis 3. But, God pursued Hagar in Genesis 16 just like He pursued Adam and Eve in the garden after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. God pursued me for many years before I accepted His gift of grace and forgiveness and He continues to pursue me every day. God SEES me!

When God sees me, He comforts. My greatest need is not to be psychologically healthy, not to be physically "in shape", not to have a house with a big yard, not to have financial security... my greatest need was forgiveness and God gave that to me through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. But the reality is, the Gospel isn't just for those who aren't saved... the Gospel is just as relevant and important for me today. It's not something I move past, it is something I move into.

God sees!

God cares!

Even if you don't feel like you fit in,

like you don't belong-

God sees you!

 God accepts you!

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks that is ALL that matters! How much of my life would be different if I lived in the reality of this truth? How radically different would my life be if I would just trust God? *

* (the credit for the thoughts in those three paragraphs goes to Gabe, our youth pastor - these were just my notes on what he said that stuck out to me)

How amazing and wonderful is it that just after a conversation with my friend about feeling invisible I go to church Sunday morning and hear a message on how God sees me? Absolutely. Mind. Blowing.

God is SO GOOD!

I will close with a song that my friend JoAnn sang. It was written and sung by Twila Paris who wrote the song after a friend's wife left him for no reason. You can listen here

These are the lyrics:

For the young abandoned husband
Left alone without a reason
For the pilgrim in the city
Where there is no home
For the son without a father
For his solitary mother
I have a message…

He sees you, He knows you
He loves you, He loves you
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
Is the heart of a child that he holds in his sight.
And, oh, how He longs to hold in his arms
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
For every heart

For the precious fallen daughter
For her devastated father
For the prodigal who’s dying in a strange new way
For the child who’s always hungry
For the patriot with no country
I have a message…

He sees you, He knows you
He loves you, Jesus loves you
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
Is the heart of a child that he holds in his sight.
And, oh, how He longs to hold in his arms
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
Every heart that is breaking, tonight
For every heart 

With thankfulness for El Roi,

Sherri