GRATITUDE 81 The God who sees

Moving the Wilhoits was a lot harder for me than I anticipated.  A lot harder.  I cried so hard that my face was all red and my eyes were so blood shot that I was embarassed to go into McDonald's for ice cream on the way home....that's really called sobbing, not crying.  (And yes, we were teaching our kids to self medicate their sadness with ice cream) 

I could write a years worth of gratitude posts about this family.  Today I am thankful for them.  But I am also thankful for the way God tenderly cared for me in my sadness.  

Our God is a good who sees.  I love the story of Hagar totally out in the wilderness.  She felt totally alone and thought she was.  She felt that no one saw her misery under her mistresses harsh hand and she was sure no one could see her in the wilderness.  .  But God saw her out there and he came to her.  The angel of the Lord came to her and told her that God heard her misery.   She says to the Lord, “‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” (Genesis 16:13). With this, Hagar decides to name the well she was at Beer Lahoi Roi, which means well of the Living One who sees me. (Genesis 16:14).

For a while now, I loved to think on this name of God.  The God who sees me.  Today was a day when I was reminded again that my God sees me.  

Back to my sobbing...so there I was driving home, indulging in my comfort ice cream.  And when we pulled into the driveway, I saw a lady at the house two doors down.  This house has been empty for years, tied up in a very complicated, prolonged sales process.    Offers have gone on the house multiple times and been retracted. Offers have sat pending on the house for years, actually.  And I have been praying about this house and asking God to bring the right neighbors.  (I got pretty specific in my asking cause he tells us to make our desires known to him)  

And of all the days for the house to FINALLY close and the new neighbor be in the front yard for me to meet her for the first time it was TODAY.  On a day when I was feeling a very significant loss, God reminded me that he sees me, and he KNOWS how to provide for me. 

We met our new neighbor and helped with some of the yard work right away.  This sweet Joanne, my new neighbor, wanted to know all about me, asked about where I grew up and what my hobbies were. She cried after we talked and asked if she could give me a hug.

God has provided a new friend, a stay at home mom, who thinks similarly to me, and likes hummus, sewing and coffee.  

Though I don't have a well to name or an altar to set up in remembrance of his seeing of me on this day, I am certainly setting up one in my heart, for I have seen the One who sees me.