He Knows My Name


     

    I don't need my name in lights
    I'm famous in my Father's eyes
    Make no mistake
    He knows my name
Francesca Battistelli



Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she

has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

Isaiah 49:15-16a



Courage is an odd thing. I live in a Navy town, so we often think of courage in military terms. Over the last couple of years I've come to see it more and more often in children, precious, tiny children fighting huge, disgusting demons, otherwise known as various forms of cancer.

Because we see these awful, debilitating, life altering circumstances as an horrific affront most of feel pulled to do whatever we can to ease the suffering or make the good days brighter. There are many organizations that reach out to children with life threatening conditions and God bless every one of them! One such organization reached out to a friend of my daughter, Laura. Her friend has a little girl, Amy who has a kind of cancer that has already cost her a limb. She is only seven years old and has faced more battles than most adults that I know. To say that Amy and her wonderful parents have faced these battles with grace is a vast understatement.

Recently a charitable organization set up a special day for Amy. The culmination of which was that Amy would see her name in lights on a giant marquee. Of all the events of the day that one seemed to escape her notice. When the day was over Amy's mom asked her how it felt to be a celebrity for the day, mentioning specifically that now everyone knew her name. Amy's response was of the “ho hum, big deal” variety. When mom pushed the question a little Amy's response was to begin to sing the song I quoted above, “He Knows My Name” by Francesca Battistelli.

I know Amy's name, our Bible study group knows Amy's name and now our city at large is at least aware of Amy's name. Amy couldn't care less. Why? The God of the Universe already knew her name. He holds her in the palm of His hand and she is well aware of that.

Amy does not have a pulpit. She does not preach. What she does is walk the walk. While her physical walk has suffered a huge blow, her spiritual walk is strong and thriving. Amy walks by faith.

Jesus called us to have faith like a child (Matthew 18:3) because that is the purest form of faith. I am not a huge organization, capable of making Amy, or Drew or Brayden or any other little one on my prayer list, queen or king for the day. What I am is humbled by the trust and faith and courage that each one of them demonstrates. They are all in my prayers and I hope after reading this, they are in yours.

(I changed the name of the little girl as I did not acquire permission to share her story. God knows her real name, just as He knows that Drew and Brayden are real little boys in horribly real battles. Please pray for these precious angels.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Really god, where are you?

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning to noon.”Baal answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said, “Surely he is a god! Perhaps his is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26b-27 Those who know me would be quick to tell you that I am a bit sarcastic. It’s a quality that I have passed on to my children and even some of my grandchildren. Some days I feel a little guilty. Is that really a quality that God wants to see in me? Certainly that cannot be my go to attitude but there are times that it comes in quite nicely. This morning, reading a totally unrelated verse, I was reminded of this account in the first book of Kings. (It begins at verse 16 and continues to the end of the chapter. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t and it if you have reread it. It’s great!) In this p
Read more

My Offering

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also love you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 Standing in my kitchen, I was praying that what I was putting together for a friend would convey what I want her to know, that I so deeply appreciate her. As my mind spun around what can I add? What would she really like? Is this enough? I had to laugh. That is so often my prayer, “Lord, I don’t have anything to give. I don’t give enough. What can I possibly do?” and on, and on and…. Well, you get it, I’m sure. May I just say, GOD IS GOOD! (Yes, I know the caps mean I’m shouting. Yes, I am shouting!) While I was preparing my “gift” I was thinking about how often I feel that I don’t do enough, for friends, for family, for my hubby and certainly for God. I had music playing, another pretty typical occurrence. The Third Day song, “Offering” started to play and I started singing along.
Read more

Selective Sight

You shall not bow down to them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to the a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6 A precious little one that I know has a glass eye. We’ll call him Jack. Beyond the lack of his eye, Jack has a lot of other challenges. His brain hasn’t caught up with his chronology and it most likely never will. My expectation is that Jack will always need someone close by to help him through life. He’s a needy kid who is also a little bit on the naughty side. It was his uniquely naughty nature that taught me a spiritual lesson. You see, little Jack can pop out that glass eye and he does. The other day while I was with him another child in the room was yelling, “Eye, eye, eye.” Not having experienced Jack’s particular talent I heard it is “I, I, I”. Just as I was about to ask her to please b
Read more