Unfailing Truth

How much do you say? When someone says "How are you?," is your standard answer "I'm fine." Or do you give some details? Or, perhaps, it depends on the person who asks the question. If it's a close friend, you likely go deep with your answer. If it's in the five minutes before the event you're at starts...you likely don't say much. When is more detail the correct response? When is it not? When do you protect your heart? When do you share it? So many questions. Honestly...I don't know that I have any helpful answers or direction for you, me, or anybody. I do know that, if you're hurting, struggling, or searching, it can be incredibly hard to open up to people that don't feel "safe." Friend, I wish I could tell you it is going to get easier...it is going to start hurting less...it is safe to share your heart...but sometimes those words just aren't going to ring true for you. I haven't walked in your shoes, and you haven't walked in mine. Even those closest to you, who know you the best of anyone in the world, tend to not truly see or understand you. They try...we all try...but...we are human...flawed...lacking in understanding at times...self-focused and unseeing at others... Sometimes it's just "easier" to keep our words, our hurts, our confusion, our questions inside...to ourselves. It feels "safer" to not communicate, to not share, to not be vulnerable, to not hope that someone will see and reach out...but is it truly "safer?" Maybe others have failed you too often. Maybe one too many times others have left you standing in the rain without the shared experience of standing under their umbrella. Where does that leave you? Drenched and alone...

What if there was another way? What if we could somehow raise awareness of our situations without having to deal with the fumbles of others? Is that even possible? Unlikely. We are human after all...which comes with flaws, flubs, errors, mistakes, mishaps, selfishness, and more. So where does that leave us?

It leaves us in the hands, the loving hands, of a very capable, very loving, very aware...Father. He sees...He hears...He loves...He leads...He comforts...He is ever-present...He is consistent...He is not flawed...He is real...He is life-giving and life-sustaining...He is for us...He created each of us with a purpose... Try, with all your heart, mind, and soul, to keep your eyes steady on Him. It is not always going to be "easy." But, as the saying goes, nothing worth having is. And His presence and guidance in your life are worth having, even when nothing else feels worthy of your attention. Your worth and value may feel tied up in the responses and actions of others, but, despite all appearances to the contrary, they are NOT.

Ephesians 2:10 says: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." And Matthew 10:30-31 says: "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." If those verses don't cause you to see more clearly the care and awareness and love of our Father, perhaps the next verse will. The words of David in Psalm 139:13-18 are powerful...they are weighty...they pack a punch...they show just how much our Creator loves of us...they show us what our heart-response can (and should) be. Here they are:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you."

He sees you! He created you! He knows you better than anyone else! He does not leave or forsake us! Lean in! Cry out! He is our strong tower! He loves you! He loves me! His love is unfailing! When all else seems to be overwhelming or too much, cling to the truth of God's love for and knowledge of you.

You are seen, friend!