Here all along

I’ve noticed sometimes when I’m pushing Lily in the stroller, she doesn’t seem to realize I’m still right there with her. From the angle she sits at she can’t see me standing behind her. I can tell by the way she starts looking around or making noises. If she really starts fussing, I’ll sometimes stop the stroller and peak around to the front, leaning down to tell her I’m still right there. Every time she responds with a big gummy smile that melts my heart.

I wish I could explain “Child, you wouldn’t even be going anywhere if I wasn’t right here guiding & pushing you.” I’m the one making the stroller move, and I’m looking down on her the whole time even though she can’t see me.

The glaringly obvious parallel between Lily and myself as God’s beloved child seemed to hit me square between the eyes. Maybe there are times we feel as if we cannot see or hear the Lord clearly right now, and it seems like we are just rolling down the road alone, unsure if He is even with us. Despite our feelings, certainly He is right there all along, watching over us and guiding our path. And if we really start to get scared and call out to Him, rest assured He will bend down & let us know He has been right there all along.

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
Psalms 139:1-10

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5