SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME

"Fine," I answered. "Pretty good, I guess."

That was how I answered the man standing next to me at the coffee pot in the church fellowship hall Sunday morning when he asked how I was doing.

It wasn't a lie. I really was fine. I had food, clean clothes...and soon I would have hot coffee, too! My kids were all healthy. I hadn't had to sleep in a house that had raccoons fighting in the attic or that was infested with fleas. (Been there, done that, and it is NOT "fine" by any stretch of the imagination.)

Except that I really wasn't fine. Not on the inside. Still struggling with this penchant for duplicity, obviously. "Um, yeah, I guess I'm fine." I looked at the man standing next to me and managed a smile. "That's the short answer. You don't really want the long answer, do you?"

The fellow finished stirring creamer into his cup of coffee. "Nah, not really!" he chuckled. "That'll do!"

On the other side of the fellowship hall, a friend sat down next to me at the table. "How you doing, baby?" she asked as she leaned over for a hug. I looked at her and smiled, and then the deluge of tears began.

Funny, isn't it?, how some people can see right through the facade, right into your heart. And when they ask how you are doing, you don't have to pretend or be "fine" anymore. Such friends are a gift.

So, on a different note, I am currently reading through the book of Isaiah. I sat down to read this morning - strange how I can already feel so tired, so early in the day - and, after I had prayed - for my kids, for endurance, for stronger faith, for comfort and encouragement... - I read:

...I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine...I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you...I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you...bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made...

Funny, isn't it?, that God would have me right at Isaiah 43 first thing this morning.

Ever feel like God is speaking directly to you? Like He wrote the entire Bible just especially for you?

He is just that good, isn't He? :)