Nothing is Hidden

Grandma's House

It was 1983.

I sat in the back row, considering my options. The door was a few short feet away; no one would notice. 

I was 16. This was band class.

Home life was hard, but whose isn't, right?

The following year, I moved in with my grandmother. I changed schools my senior year of high school, tossed any hope of medical school for the peace and isolation of country life in the little-known town of Alaska, Michigan.

This town was so small that there weren't any corner stores for at least a mile. But there was a beautiful little park I loved to visit. The best part of moving to this side of the state was that my grandma didn't get out to church much anymore, and she lived too far from hers to have anyone bother me about visiting.

Alaska, MI

What I never anticipated was the day that she would feel well enough to venture out. My aunt woke me and asked whether I would go with them to church.

And of course, no one says "No" to Grandma. 😁

A second, more life-changing surprise occurred at the end of that service. The God I'd been giving the silent treatment to met me in the back seat of the sanctuary. 

He not only met me there, but he also showed me that he saw every hidden and dark wound I carried.

He saw it all.

Right or wrong. Good or bad. He knew. And yet, He still met me in that seat, calming, healing, arms open, inviting me to welcome Him into my life.

How could a perfect God love me like that?

Fast forward to now.

I have spent the past decades learning that there is only one thing I love more than my family.

The presence of God in my life.

This isn't the first time He's shown up for someone in need.

Alaska, MI

When Abraham and Sarah struggled with infertility, she told him to take her Egyptian slave, Hagar, and have a child through her. Later, when Hagar realized she was pregnant, she treated Sarah with disdain. Sarah blamed Abraham, then, with his permission, she treated Hagar harshly until she fled.

So Abram said to Sarai, "Indeed, your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please." And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence (Genesis 16:6 NKJV).

In the wilderness, Hagar was visited by an Angel of the LORD who told her she would have a son, and also showed her to a stream of water (Genesis 16: 7). 

Her response?

Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the_God-Who-Sees; for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Therefore, the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ... (Genesis 16:13-14a NKJV).

She realized with Whom she had communicated, and was comforted that He saw her. 

It's been 42 years since that day in the back row. I have seen trauma, loved ones have fought cancer, and ended their battle when called home to heaven. 

But it's not the big events that trip us up, is it? When my daughter was born needing major surgery at 24-hrs old, I knew I could trust the God who formed her at conception. She was (and still is) His idea. He'll take care of her. When my husband lay in the ICU near death, I could hear the Lord clearly speaking to my heart that He was with me.

But it's the little things. Those moments that seem insignificant in the beginning, I have also navigated the much smaller trials. As a teenager, I lived in a home with a leaky roof. We would place our pots on the floor around the living room to catch the raindrops. Initially, we heard the ping-ping of each drip. Eventually, though, that ping-ping sounded more like a plop. One drop didn't amount to anything, but as the drops collected in the one pot, we would soon pour enough down the drain that could've been boiled for macaroni & cheese dinner.

North Carolina Outer Banks 2025

And this is how the little things build. One drip at a time until gallons have gathered into one place. 

These events can do one of two things:

1. Slosh over and create a mess.

2. Be diverted to water the grass.

It's in how we choose to focus. It's in whether we will clean the lens of our vision and see that God is still with us even in the drizzling, annoying, life-hindering rain and that He has a clearer understanding of where we are headed than we do.

He is with us. He sees our struggles. He is there when we triumph. 

Recently, I have been reminded of this. He saw me in the back row, considering whether anyone would notice.

And He sees you too.

Nothing has escaped His notice, and He always "helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified" (Romans 8:26-29 ESV). 

North Carolina Outer Banks 2023

So take heart, my friend. The Lord has not abandoned or forgotten you. He is very much involved, weaving together the most beautiful story of our lives. Our job is to trust Him.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength (Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV).

Until next time, lean into His strength and faithfulness. He'll never fail.

Blessings, 💜 Karlene J  💜

Weapons of War: Truth vs Discouragement and Fear

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life 

(Proverbs 13:12 NKJV).

Satan knows his best chance to get us separated from God is to get us to accuse Him and turn our backs.

Forfeit.

This is not a new thing; we can see it evidenced in the way the Israelite nation reacted in Deuteronomy 1:

And I have said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.'

Then all of you came near me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.'

The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, 'It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.'

Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us' (Deuteronomy 1:20-27 ESV).

Sound familiar?

The Lord speaks a promise to our hearts, we read Scripture and see truth in print--promises of provision, protection, healing, acceptance--and yet whispers of doubt and accusation taunt us morning to night, day after day. It wears us down as we wait, sometimes feeling like eternity will pass before the promise is fulfilled.

Have you ever felt the nudge to throw in the towel and accept that the dream/promise was never from God in the first place?

The Israelites had waited 400+ years to be delivered from Egypt. Every year they remained in the land, they experienced both greater oppression and greater provision and protection. Then, when deliverance came, they grumbled at every turn that felt uncertain. They accused Moses. They accused God. They stated more than once, "It would've been better if we were back in Egypt" (Exodus 14:10-12).

Now, to give them a little grace on my part, they'd spent 400+ years in captivity. Initially, it was a great place to be. Jacob's son, Joseph, was taken into captivity due to his brothers' jealousy and scheming. The Lord prospered him and elevated him to second only to Pharaoh in the land.

We, however, have different captors. Their names may be illness, job loss, infertility, bankruptcy, murder, addiction, abuse, rejection ...  Our exodus may look different from theirs, but the temptation to compare our lives now to "back in the day" is waiting like giants in the land. We can see the promise over the wall, down the valley, or around the corner--but it seems to always be just out of reach.

And this is when the twelve spies return with their reports. Ten acknowledge that the land "It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us" (Deuteronomy 1:25).

They refused to move forward, and ultimately, the entire generation died in the wilderness.

If this doesn't rattle our souls, we need to listen to the Lord's warning in Isaiah:

If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established (Isaiah 7:9b).

And again in James:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8).

This battle will not end until every word of prophecy of God's word is fulfilled and the devil and his angels are in the lake of fire forever.

The world would love to help us fight off these temptations to fear and worry, give up, or give in. Some would say to think positive thoughts, manifest your dreams, visualize your victory, or whatever it is that elevates us to the place where temptation rises for us to view victory as our own doing.

Instead, we need to cover ourselves with the full armor of God. For temptation and discouragement, fear, or disillusionment, the Belt of Truth is our protective gear. 

Belt of Truth: Courtesy Google Images

Pictured to the right is a soldier with his armor. The belt is not only around his waist. Leather straps hang down the front of his suit to protect him to the knees--keeping all vulnerable parts of his person protected.

God's truth is the only truth that will protect any vulnerability we may have. Satan knows where we are vulnerable but he cannot penetrate an arsenal of truth blocking his attack.

Lexicon of Psychology 

Crosswalk: Belt of Truth: Armor of God and How to Use It

Until next time, stand in faith, taking the Lord at His word. 

 💜 Karlene J 💜