A God Who Hears

By Mike DeVries

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

I was talking with someone recently about a family crisis he is going through when he made this comment, “I just need God to hear me. I need to know that God is listening. Is that too much to ask for?”

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in the same situation. You’ve found yourself in a place where you are crying out to God, and the whole time you’re wondering, is He even listening? Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a place along your journey where you are looking around and asking, “God, if you’re supposed to be God, then why is ____________ happening?”

If you have been there (or you are there at this moment), you’re in good company. The Scriptures are filled with people who struggled with these exact questions. We encounter people who, in the face of tremendous doubt, have cried out to God, “Where are you?”

The Treasure Box

Written by Kristi Huseby

“[B]ut Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” (Luke 2:19, NLT)

Did you have a treasure box growing up? I did. In my treasure box I had a very old dollar coin that my Mom had given to me, some chapstick, and various other items that you might have considered junk but to me they were valued possessions.

In Luke 2:19 (NLT) we get the idea that Mary had a treasure box of sorts, only her treasures were memories of Jesus and how his life intersected with hers. Look at what it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

What were those things she stored in her “treasure box”? Could it have been the time when the Angel came to tell her that she would bear a child even though she was a virgin? Or what about when she visited with Elizabeth who was old, wrinkled and very pregnant? Did she treasure watching God’s miracle growing within her?