Do You Really Know Me?

I stopped in the doorway catching my breath as I carefully lowered the final moving box onto the kitchen floor of my new apartment.  This simple and somewhat musty rental was on the third floor of a large, old white house in a small city of northeastern Pennsylvania.  My quest for a degree had recently led me here along with my small number of possessions.  I had never lived on my own before, and now almost twenty hours from friends and family, I already felt alone.

During this quiet season of my life, I would often wake up early, slide on my warm slippers and sweatshirt, and slip out to the balcony with my Bible and journal.  There on that small balcony in a place so far away from my childhood church and anyone's expectations, I searched for my own faith.  I read the Bible with fresh eyes, searching for the God Who I was learning was also in pursuit of me. 

One morning I began to think about how small and unexceptional I was among so many people in the world. A question burned in my heart, and I asked, “God... do You really know me?  Do You care personally about me?”

Just as I asked the question, I glanced between the houses to the sidewalk below.  There my second floor neighbor was walking his seven- year old daughter to school.  She reached for his hand as they walked and began to playfully hop on one foot. 

God filled my heart with his answer.  “You are my daughter!  Of course I know you and love you!”

We have a Father who knows and loves us completely. Have you reflected on that recently? He knows everything about you. Everything. And He generously pours out His love on each of us through Christ, welcoming us into His family as sons and daughters. What a gift!

Let's worship Him together this Christmas season!

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)