I had almost forgotten the heavy warmth of a newborn baby asleep in my arms. It is good to remember.

I don’t keep scrapbooks, and I am not a good photographer. So many details of my life are forgotten, blending into the whole. It makes me sad sometimes.

Yet I am the product of all my memories, all of my experiences.  The details gather and take shape, coming together like words on a page, telling a story.

They do matter.

Marissa’s story has touched you in some way, and many of your stories have touched me, invisible threads binding us together in ways we don’t understand.

We are not alone.

A sovereign hand moves and surrounds and binds together.

During my evening walks I pass behind a row of houses. In December the Christmas tree lights were shining through the back window of one house, twinkling festively. They were still shining at the end of January, long after everyone else had packed their lights away. Then the blinds were closed tight.

But sometimes I would notice a flickering of white light. One night last week, the blinds were left open and the tree sparkled into the summer night.

I’ve seen an older man out mowing the grass. Does he live alone? Does he sit in the evening staring at the tree and enjoying thoughts of happier times? Or maybe he has a wife who sits there all day long, lost in her memories.

I don’t know his story, but it has intersected with mine. Now I look for the lights every time I walk by.  I have prayed for this man I have never met.

And I am comforted to know El Roi, the God who sees.

He sees behind the closed blinds of every story.

He sees you. Your fear, your insecurity, your pain. He sees every part of your suffering.

Your weakness and your struggle. All your disappointment.

He knows your empty places.

Your hopes. Desires. Each fragile dream held tightly.

You are seen.

Every detail is known.

You are not alone.

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He watches all his paths. Proverbs 5:21

For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 2 Chronicles 16:9

So she [Hagar] called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13