The God Who Sees

El Roi. As much as it sounds like a type of dog food, it's actually one of my favorite names for God. It means the God who sees. In the book of Genesis, we find out that God revealed this name to a scared, rejected young woman named Hagar who had no place to go and no one to turn to. God came to her in her desperation and told her, "I see you," and gave her instructions for what to do next. He saw her and made a place for her, and her life was changed.

In the 17 months I've been walking Oakley around the prayer track in my backyard, I've addressed a lot of prayers to El Roi. I've asked God to see people who felt like they've fallen off His radar. We all know that "stuck" feeling, when it's like God is moving in everyone's life but our own. I've walked alongside several people in that situation, praying that El Roi would show up for them in a clear way. And one by one, I've seen their lives change, just like Hagar's. Jobs and opportunities have opened up out of the blue. We may think that God is slow to act, but when He does act, it's quick and definitive.

My friend Tracie waited on God for years. When I met her in 2011, I was instantly drawn to her story and her heart for overseas ministry. She grew up as a missionary kid in Indonesia, which immediately made my ears perk up. My daughter has been talking about Indonesia since she was 4, and since I know next to nothing about this far-away country, I was eager to learn more from Tracie. As our conversations continued and our friendship grew, I learned that no matter how much she loved her life in Colorado, a quiet longing lay just below the surface. She packed lunches, drove carpool, and cheered her kids on at track meets just like the rest of us, but I always had the sense she and her husband were made for a different place. It would be a long journey, filled with waiting and wondering, to get them there. Seasons of unemployment and long weeks of separation while her husband worked out of state stretched their faith. She introduced me to the words "fighting for hope" not just by saying them, but by practicing them. Job interview after job interview. Hopes up, hopes dashed. "God, El Roi, where are you?" I cried. "Do you see this family? Why won't you act?" And the months went on and on.

They weren't looking for anything extraordinary. Just a job and to be together under one roof. But the extraordinary found them. The God Who Sees had been knitting together the pieces of their story for 25 years, and He unfurled it before them all at once. Quickly and decisively. An invitation came out of the blue, could Jess and Tracie come to the Philippines and serve as house parents at a boarding school for missionary kids? The same school that Tracie had attended and graduated from more than 20 years ago? Could these parents of four boys live with and love a houseful of other boys whose parents are serving Jesus all across Asia?

The pieces began falling into place. All the waiting. All the closed doors. The years of longing. The thousands of prayers offered up. This couple who had come together because of their shared love of ministry, missions, and kids had received their call. In a whirlwind span of only a few months, they applied, were approved, found a sending agency, shared their vision, completed the daunting task of raising support, rented their house, and finished well their relationships and responsibilities in Colorado. Along the way, they modeled patience, faithfulness, and courageous obedience to their children and their friends. They gave people like me, so nicely settled in middle-aged comforts, the thrill of seeing what it looks like to radically follow Jesus wherever He leads.

More than anything else, I see through their story El Roi at work, doing one of the things He loves to do best. I think He loves to say to His children, "Of course I see you! I've never taken my eyes off of you. I've been with you every step of the way, orchestrating things you couldn't begin to imagine."

This bolsters my faith. I need to be reminded that El Roi not only sees, but that He cares. And He acts. When I see how much God loves Jess and Tracie and their boys, how much they matter to Him and how He has been working for their good through every rejection and trial, I can come before the throne of God with greater confidence. I can believe that He hears my prayers, that He sees all the other people I'm still praying for. People who think they're unseen and can't quite believe their lives matter to God. People who are fighting for hope and losing.

Keep fighting. Keep believing. God sees you, and He cares.