I am a newly graduated-Guatemalan-Mexican-American ICU nurse living in the beautiful corner of the Pacific Northwest. I spend most days either working in the hospital, volunteering in youth ministries within the Latinx community, or refreshing the Adventist Maranatha Missions page. I am a curious soul, always looking for my next adventure whether that be through a book, a walk through a museum, a ride on a ferry, hiking, bouldering, playing tennis, singing, learning a new riff, or simply catching a plane.
As I read the topics the exam was to cover, the overwhelming feeling of pain overcame me. I was not going to study now, and my consciousness could not bear to exchange Sabbath hours for study time. Like Elisha’s servant, surrounded by an army in Dothan, I felt trapped (2 Kings 6: 13-17). As my helplessness pierced my faith, I prayed with a desperate cry for help: “God, I’ve never experienced Your miracles, but I hear You’re an active God. Please, help me retain what is necessary. Amen”
After Sabbath hours, I studied every minute leading up to that Monday morning. Minutes after arriving on campus, I received an email with the subject line: Class Canceled. It was small, but it was all I needed to remember I have “…seen the One Who sees me” (Genesis 16:13).
We often hear grand testimonies of God showing up for others in ways we have never experienced. It becomes difficult not to expect God to reach out to us in similar ways, even harder not to feel rejected. But remember: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they” (Matthew 6:26)?
God sees you. Today, I invite you to intentionally trust and contemplate God in your past successes, failures, and coincidences of your academic, professional, and young adult life.
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