Devoted

Devoted

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.

MY MOM CAME INTO a relationship with God as a young married woman. She started attending the Bible study my dad had been a part of the year prior and got to know other Christians very quickly. During one of the first weeks, the young man leading the study told everyone to close their eyes and ask God to bring to their minds a time when they felt alone. As my mom closed her eyes and prayed, immediately God brought to her memory a time when she was a young girl, sitting by her front window, waiting for her mom to come home. My mom’s home life was harder than most young girls her age. As her dad would be gone every week traveling for work, her mom would also sometimes leave her alone.

She said she knew that it was God who’d brought it to mind because she hadn’t thought about that particular memory in years. The leader then said, “Now, I want you to imagine that Jesus is there with you. What would he say to you?”

My mom immediately was able to picture in her mind Jesus there with her as a young girl, showing her compassion and love. My mom said that had such a profound impact, to realize that Jesus was there with her, devoted to her, even when she did not yet know him. Her understanding of God’s faithfulness and devotion was settled right then, and even when she walked through some really hard things later on, she never worried about God’s faithfulness. Because she dealt with the lies of her past that said she was alone.

God’s promises aren’t for just some. They are for all of us, but we’ve got to be in a place where we can receive them. We need to believe God’s devotion to us, even when we do not see.

Lord, thank you that you are near. Thank you that we don’t have to rely on our feelings to know that your promises are true. Thank you for being devoted to us and never leaving us alone. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Take time today to ask God to bring to mind a time you felt alone. And then imagine Jesus is there with you. What would he say to you? How would he comfort you?