It was back in the day of big over the lap Rand McNally Maps. One lay across my legs while I sat shotgun on the front bench seat of our 1966 Chevy Impala. Across the two big pages, lines squiggled up and down, back and forth over pale colors of blue, yellow, and red.
I imagined our car, in minute form, following one of them. I just wasn’t sure which one of them.
“Where are we?” my husband asked with a thin vein of impatience running through the question.
I was supposedly the navigator, but often found the job as un-instinctive to my nature as anything could possibly be. I was the cause of numerous unplanned detours and missed turnoffs that took us hours off track. I bowed my head over the giant map, and followed our route with my finger, trying to figure out just where we were in that cobweb of lines.
From the back seat a voice responded with the wisdom of a two-year-old.
“We’re here.”
I turned to look at our blue-eyed curly blonde haired intellectual strapped into the no-way-would-it-meet-regulations-today-carseat.
My husband raised his eyes to look at our little girl’s reflection in the rear-view mirror.
A little finger pointed straight ahead with confidence.
Oh there are definitely times in my life when I have asked God a similar question. When I have felt small in a vast unknown and wondered, “where are we?”Sometimes it is in the space of sorrow, distress, or deep hurt, that God clearly reveals where He is. Share on X
I tend to look for answers through solutions and relief. But, sometimes it is in the space of sorrow, distress, or deep hurt, that God clearly reveals where He is.
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:7-12 ESV)
Jesus meets us where we are. He met Peter and Andrew on the seashore, Mary and Martha in their home, Zaccheus under a tree, a lame man at the pool, Jairus at his daughter’s bedside, and little children on a hill.Jesus meets us where we are. Share on X
I’ve discovered when I, like a child, struggle with “where am I?” there is a purpose. When life gets jumbled, the lines from where I thought I was, to where I seem to be headed, go in the wrong directions. When everything looks like a map turned upside down, I need to remember who is at the wheel.
Within this place and time, when uncertainty and doubt trouble my heart, God reminds me, where He is.
“I Am Here.”
Like a child I again reach to hold His hand. And like One who always knows the road ahead, He bends down to gently take mine.
He walks every dark road I travel providing assurance that He is there alongside. I am seen. In every place, and in all seasons of life, His presence is with me.
“…even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
I smile as I remember that little finger pointed so obviously at the spot in which our car traveled. And I smile now, as I am comforted once again.
He is with me. He is right here.
Joy Compton
Dear Sylvia, I’m in a difficult place of confusion, and transition right now. But Father always brings the right person with the right word at the right time, and today that is you. Your child’s words, “We are here”, just lit up a lightbulb in my spirit and has clarified what God’s NOW word is for me. It too complex to explain but please know that He has used you potently today for me and probably many others. Be greatly blessed dear woman of God.
Thank you Jesus.
Joy ❤️ 🇬🇧
Sylvia Schroeder
Joy, I am so honored by your words and grateful that God could use them in your situation. I stopped and prayed for you this morning. May He light your steps and may His Word give guidance and comfort. Thank you so much for sharing.
Don Pahl
And Jesus’ words “I am here are forever shorted to “I am!” So present! So immanent! So powerful! So peaceful so sufficient!
Sylvia Schroeder
So true. Thank you Don. He is all of that and more.
Katherine Pasour
Your message brought joy on this rainy and gloomy day. Sometimes our children are so wise. I guess that’s when they are God’s messengers. Thank you for this message of hope and assurance of God’s love.
Sylvia Schroeder
Katherine, it’s so true. God chooses so many ways to show us He is with us. I also needed to remember that today.
Pam Hollister
Such a sweet reminder.
Sylvia Schroeder
Thank you Pam! So great to hear from you!
Laura McCormick
… And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:20
Hooray!
Sylvia Schroeder
Yes! What a wonderful promise! Thanks Laura!
Cheryl Balcom
Loved this! Thanks, Sylvia 🙂
Sylvia Schroeder
Thanks Cheryl. I’m so glad you enjoyed it and took the time to let me know it!
Candyce Carden
Your title reminds me of the prevailing teaching philosophy where I taught elementary school. Our aim was to meet each child where they were in terms of learning and development. It was sometimes challenging because of vast differences among 25 children in one classroom. But it was our goal, and we tried hard to meet it.
Thankfully, Jesus has no problems meeting His children wherever we are.
“Even ‘there’ Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will take hold of me. Psalms 139:10.
Sylvia Schroeder
Candyce, I love your analogy. How blessed we are that our Heavenly Father never loses sight of us and knows exactly where we are and what we need. Thank you for sharing!
Rebecca Powell
Sylvia, your devotion reminded me of what a dear friend shared with me many years ago and I have reminded myself of it often over the years. “God always meets us at the point of our need,” which is another way of saying, “Jesus meets us where we are.” Praise God for this assurance as we deal with life’s problems and concerns. Thank you for blessing my day. 💕
Sylvia Schroeder
Thank you Rebecca for blessing my day as well. He does meet us at the point of our need, and I am so grateful!
Nancy Ruegg
Praise God for our perfect navigator, the Holy Spirit, who provides 100% reliable guidance for each of God’s children. (And he doesn’ even needs a map!)
Sylvia Schroeder
And He doesn’t even need a map! Thank you for those thoughts, Nancy! I’m so grateful He is reliable always.