I slept well last night, thank goodness! I wrote yesterday about worry and how it keeps me awake sometimes. It was probably one of the most open posts that I have written. It’s a little scary to put out on the web to all my friends (and friends of friends) that I have a problem with anxiety. In reality, I’m sure they already know this. To write openly about my struggles and how I feel, is good for me and I hope, good for others. Not in a whiny, “Oh, woe is me” kind of way, but showing how the Lord helps me deal with the trials of life day by day. Sometimes I don’t think I realize how much He helps me even in the little things.

As I was getting my post ready to publish yesterday, God interrupted my day to get my attention. I was scanning through my phone looking for a photo that would be appropriate for my post. The title was “More Than a Sparrow” so I wanted a picture of a sparrow as an illustration. I always try to use one of my own photos if possible. I had pictures of other birds but no sparrows. I was sitting at my desk, looking down at my phone, when a bird hit my window. It was a sparrow! The bird was not hurt. It proceeded to light on a nearby branch between my window and the pond behind the clinic just long enough for me to take a picture. The photo was beautiful. It was framed by green foliage with the bird silhouetted against the pond. Even through the cloudy window of my office, it turned out to be a great photo, better than I had imagined!

Just at the right moment, a sparrow appeared to pose for just the right photo. Wow! God, you are something! Were Your angels having fun with me yesterday? It’s like You’re saying, “I’m here, silly. Don’t you see me? I’m hidden in plain sight.” If God cares enough about me to send me a sparrow to photograph, how much more will He do for me and with me for the rest of my life? It’s humbling and mind-boggling at the same time.

There will be those who will say that this was just a coincidence but I don’t believe this for a minute. There are things that happen that are too much to be just random occurences. I’ve written in my blogs before about having eyes to see and ears to hear God all around us. But sometimes our hearts are so hard toward God, we don’t see the evidence of His existence. We can’t see it because we refuse to see. We put blinders over our eyes and plugs in our ears to keep God out. We lock Him out of our hearts.

I love the picture of Jesus knocking on a door. It’s a classic in religious art. The artist skillfully left off the door handle because the door must be opened from the inside. A heart must be open for Jesus to enter. He knocks on the door of our hearts, sometimes with a sparrow that appears miraculously at just the right time. All we have to do is open the door to greet the One who was there all along waiting for us to see Him hidden in plain sight.