Never Forgotten
“Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:16
Do you ever feel forgotten? Left out of Friday night plans with your friends? Cut during tryouts for a team? Not invited to a party?
When I am forgotten, I get a pit in my stomach. My first reaction is to want to pretend that I’m really okay with being left out. I stuff the hurt that I feel and try to be a big girl, telling myself that I really wouldn’t have wanted to be included anyway.
Even though I try to cover over the pain I feel, it really gets to me. I begin to believe lies about who I am, lies like “people must think I’m boring,” “I don’t have anything to offer anyone,” and “they have all the friends they need without me.” I begin believing that my worth as a person depends on how others see me.
When I feel like an afterthought with those around me, I need to be reminded that God has not forgotten about me. He never has and he never will. Isaiah 49 tells me that he is so committed to never forgetting me that he has “engraved” me on the palms of his hands. Sounds pretty permanent! He has my name tattooed on him, and I will never be left out of his plans.
With his gentle and loving hands, he arranges the course of my life. He allows both good and bad to come into my life in order to shape me into the woman he wants me to be.
My circumstances might hurt at times and I might feel forgotten and alone, but his word assures me that I’m not. He is always with me. His hands (the ones that have my name engraved on them) and his heart have sought me out, have pursued me when I have been running away from him.
Everything that I face has passed through him. Because this is true, I can be honest about where I feel forgotten, looking to him to assure me that I am his forever, never to be rejected or left out.
For Further Reading: Isaiah 49:13-16