Recently the global population exceeded 7,000,000,00 people. I am not sure how to grasp that figure as it relates to the quantity of humanity. Needless to say, it’s a lot. Just the thought of that many people it is easy to understand how we as individuals can become lost in such a crowd. The classic example is feeling all alone at a crowded party. Yet we do feel that way at times.
A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, but for the purpose of communication, we will call him Jeff practices the following. From time to time we will call each other and if we happen to miss getting through we will leave a message similar to this; “Jeff, this is John, and out of 7,000,000,000 people in the world right now, just in case there is not another single person thinking about you at this moment, I wanted you to know I am.” Just the thought that another person is considering your life at any given moment can bring Hope to the heart.
My Senior Pastor gave an example a couple of weeks ago in a message as to how God can single us out and be mindful of our individual lives. He continued that if we were to make a phone call internationally and wanted to speak to one individual we would take the number and as soon as we dialed the international code to the country we wish to call we would have eliminated over 311,000,000 people in the United States. And if we were to continue to punch in numbers we would eliminate billions of people from around the globe and then additional millions of the country we are calling until that one individual we wish to speak with says, “hello.”
God is just like that. We roam through life, blindly groping for the purpose and mission of our life of which some find, and others, often many, never identify. Yet God continually dials the number to our life and out of 7,000,000,000 people He wishes to speak with us individually. We listen instead to the “noise” all around us rather than a reassuring voice that is speaking loudly to the quiet places of our hearts.
Need more proof this is true for you? Then take ten minutes and read Psalm 139. I call it the “self-esteem” chapter. If you have teenagers, especially girls, they need to be familiar with this chapter in the Bible. Midway through in verses :13 – :16 it goes into detail as to how much care God took in creating you as an individual, and that He sees every day of your life lived out before you have even experienced one. How much proof do you need that He is mindful of you? Just you.
Still need a little more proof? This literally just happened as I was typing the third paragraph of this post. My cell phone gives me the signal that someone out of 7,000,000,000 people has just sent me a text. I stopped typing to read it. A friend of ours who recently became a nurse not knowing what I was doing at this moment and certainly would not have known the topic at hand sent me this message and I will type it in as it reads. The reference to Doty is to my wife.
“Talked to Doty for a while tonight. I am praying for ya’ll. Here is a quote for you and Doty…please share: ‘Don’t confuse your path with your destination. Just because it’s stormy now doesn’t mean you aren’t headed for sunshine.'”
So…out of 7,000,000,000 people God used someone to communicate to me that she was praying for me and my family on this night and that God was mindful of me. By the way, Caitlin, I did share, and now many others are aware.
Hope is contagious. As Caitlin shared this quote with me I would ask that you share it with many tomorrow and in the days between now and Christmas. This is the season of Good News and the message of peace. Take the next few days and find those who are going through stormy weather and remind them they are headed for sunshine.
JHH
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