God Sees Me

I am not a believer in coincidence. I know that there are things in life that can be explained away or just be considered “lucky”. I guess, as I have walked with God, I believe that He cares about me. As I have seen things come together for us over the last few months, I don’t view things as just coincidental. I believe He really sees me and has my best interest at heart—throughout the good times and the bad.

Today was our first Sunday living in Penang. We went down the road to the Baptist church to visit. It was a nice visit but we know we want to visit some other congregations too. After the message there was a church business meeting. We stepped out to leave since we don’t know much about the decisions the church has to make. When we got to the parking lot, we realized we were stuck.   Several cars had blocked us in (which means there were people who arrived later than we did!).   However, we were not “stuck” alone. Another couple came out and they were stuck too. This was their first visit to the church and we struck up a conversation and talked for 30-45 minutes.   They are from South Africa and are older than us (have grown children and grand-children), but after talking and getting to know one another, we left with the intention to get together soon and explore some more of Penang. An inconvenience became a new friendship. I left feeling like, “Hey…thanks God!” I don’t believe in coincidence…

In 2009 there was a family who studied Indonesian in Salatiga. We struck up a friendship and really enjoyed their company (even though we could not get together very often). Due to some medical issues, they have to be in Penang this year.   When they found out they had to come here, they were trying to find an apartment. There was an option but it wasn’t great.  Basically through several people they found out about an open apartment in this complex. For the year, they are living in the building right next door! What a special gift… When I heard about all the various people involved to get them here, I knew WHO put that together. Again, I don’t believe in coincidence….

Our journey here last week was full of those “God sees me” moments too. With 12 pieces of luggage, 5 carry-ons, and 5 people, we just feel stressed when we head out for the airport to cross the world. There is not much we can do about that fact. The process of checking-in looms as the first arduous step. When we reached the curb in Seattle, there was a big cart right there. There was a rope/key holding it to a post, but it was not locked. We were able to put all of our baggage on it and then, we met Malone. He was working check-in at the curb. He took and labeled all of our baggage and got it sent through and gave us our passes to go through security. He was so kind and helpful and I just wanted to give him a huge hug. My heart had just been crushed by two terrible good-byes, and experiencing kindness was such a gift.   I don’t believe in coincidence….

We had flown Southwest a lot this summer and you can only check in 24 hours in advance and get your boarding pass. On this Delta flight, I knew that we could check in 24 hours in advance. I did NOT know that we had to get on BEFORE 24 hours to get our seats. I couldn’t get any seats and according to the seat maps, all I could select was the middle seat in every row.   We didn’t take this news well—that we had to go to the counter to get our boarding passes. Our last Delta experience did not go well and we did not want to re-live trying to get other passengers to move to let us sit with our kids.   We were frustrated the night before we left with that news.  But… are we stupid or something???   We don’t need to worry about anything! When we got to the counter, they had seats ready for us. They had boarding passes printed for us for two flights (all the way to Singapore). We were all seated together and we were in the middle of the plane (not in the back!).   On the plane we found that on both flights, there was an empty seat in our section of three seats. And, we had an electrical outlet. I had received a translation assignment the last week in the States and was very concerned about finishing it by the deadline. I had power on the plane and was able to work on the document for hours!    Again, I don’t believe in coincidence….

Since we have moved in, we’ve had a little cat hair problem. I’m allergic to it, and there was way too much hair left in the apartment. It will take weeks to clean it all out for sure. Although there are some issues, there are some great things here. I already mentioned my friends living in the other building…and after Semarang, the kitchen I have is HUGE.   My Mom (and her landlady) VERY KINDLY let us stay with her for a couple of weeks in Seattle, but she has a one bedroom/one bathroom basement apartment. It was a little challenging for all 6 of us to manage—and I knew that Ryan was looking forward to his own room and bathroom. When we got here we found not only three bedrooms, but ALSO three bathrooms. That is an amazing gift. I also never get tired of looking out the window and seeing the ocean. Sometimes it still shocks me—I can’t believe it. We’ve been able to make it without air conditioner and hope that we can continue that to save expense. The breeze from the ocean has been refreshing.   Again, I don’t believe in coincidence…

I know that God knows me…He sees me and He knows what lies ahead.   We all growing on this journey and are learning a lot about ourselves and each other. Mom had all the letters I wrote from boarding school and I brought them with me. Maybe, one day soon, I will sit on campus where I wrote them and read again about what life was like for me as a junior high student. I will contemplate what happened to me then and think about where He has brought me now. It’s kind of surreal to be in the same place and have so much still look similar, so many long years later. I am excited to be a part of a community that I adored as a student. I look forward to giving of myself to the students in the way those teachers gave of themselves to me.   I am excited for my kids to experience this community.

God sees me, and I know He sees you too. What is He doing in your life?

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.