It happened again! I was looking at items at the office supply store, when suddenly I was aware of a face peering over the top of the display, saying, “I was trying to talk to you!”
“Oh, hi!” I said, not having the slightest idea who she was. My mind was running her face through an identification process like a security camera. All I came up with was an image of my grandson’s girlfriend, and I knew she wasn’t in town.
“How was the funeral?” the dark haired, attractive girl asked. I said it was really sad, then it clicked in my mind that she was the girl who had done my hair last week! Thank God I didn’t have to pretend any longer. I was so glad I hadn’t said, “I can’t place you!”
Seeing her out of context, her hair in a new do, and dressed in regular clothes made it difficult for me to recognize her. She wasn’t my regular hairdresser, anyway, who had been out on a medical leave of absence. We talked for a few minutes as she was waiting on some business cards she was having printed, telling me of her new salon location and inviting me to visit.
It is so embarrassing when you feel you should know someone but haven’t the slightest idea who they are! I’m glad God doesn’t forget our identity! I heard something last week that was so poignant illustrating how much we are on God’s mind.
The minister friend who was in bereavement after the death of his wife, the mother of our daughter-in-law, told his family, “Many times during our marriage when I would say, ‘I love you,’ to her, she would always respond with, ‘I love you more.’” He said he had been seeking solace in prayer, no doubt expressing his bewilderment and sorrow, yet he managed to say to God, “I still love You,” to which he distinctly heard God say, “I love you more.” What a picture of how intimately God knows us and is acquainted with us. The Bible says in Isaiah 53:3 that he is a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
At her funeral, the family told how that every Christmas their mother would select a Bible verse for them to memorize for the new year. The verse she had chosen for this year was Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” It is sometimes translated, “to give you a future and a hope.”
I have no doubt that it was not a coincidence that she chose this verse. It was just another assurance from God that He knows us intimately and knows what is ahead. He will never forget our identity, no matter how many children He has to keep up with!
No comments:
Post a Comment