Lost. And Found.

I've been spending a lot of time this week on memory lane, recalling that life-changing move across the country twenty-five years ago.  Reflecting on all the changes in our lives as a result of that.  Remembering all the ways God has blessed us through the years.

This morning I'm remembering other life events.  These memories were triggered when I read my friend Rg's blog this morning.  You can read it here:  http://hymnlines.blogspot.com/2013/10/when-perils-oertake-us-you-will-not.html.  As Rg writes about a hymnline that reminds us that God never leaves us or forsakes us, he shares an experience of being lost as a child.

And that triggered some memories.

When I was a very little girl, I was in Belk in Spartanburg with my mother.  Not the Belk in the mall.  We didn't have a mall back then.  This was Belk on Main St., right next to Woolworth's.  We were on the second floor in the women's dresses department.  Mother was shopping for a dress.  I was enamored with all the colors and fabrics and textures.  As a small child, I could only reach the hems of these dresses, but I loved the feel of the fabrics in my hand, so I wandered around touching all the dresses.  The result of my wandering was that I could no longer see my mother.  I panicked!  Thankfully, the kind clerk reunited us and all was well.

Some years later, I got lost in the woods.  On this occasion, I had gone with my daddy to the family cemetery where his mother and his grandparents and great-grandparents were buried.  This little cemetery is out in the country, well off the road, surrounded by the woods.  While Daddy did his "maintenance work", pulling weeds and raking leaves, I wandered off into the woods.  The woods were very thick and as I went in deeper, it got darker, to the point that I could barely see.  The canopy of trees overhead was so thick that I could no longer see the sky.  And once again, I panicked.  I screamed.  I cried.  I called Daddy's name over and over.  He heard my cries and came to find me.  Only when I felt his arms around me did I feel safe again.

And then there was the time we lost Brandon.  In Haywood Mall in Greenville, when he was three years old.  While my mother and I were selecting a pair of jeans for Brian and being sure they fit, Brandon wandered away.  (Is there a family trend here?  Is wandering away part of our DNA?) He later said he was just looking for the toys!  Once we realized he was missing, my mother and I began looking for him.  Eventually we enlisted the help of the mall security guards.  Three hours later we found him, in Sears at the other end of the mall, in the toy department.  He was perfectly content.  We were panicked!  I have never forgotten the terror I felt when I could not find my child!

These events call to mind some truths about our great God.  Unlike me, He always knows where his children are.  Even when we wander away, He knows.  As a child, I wandered away from my mother and could no longer see her, nor could she see me.  But even when we wander from God, He still sees.  He knows where we are.

And the greatest of all these lessons is that He hears when we call.  Just as my Daddy heard my voice and responded, so too does God hear when we call His name.  When we are lost and cry out to Him, He responds.

I am grateful that when I was separated from my mother, someone was there to point me back to her.  I am grateful that when I cried for help, Daddy came.  I am grateful that my lost child was found.

So grateful.  And grateful for all those along my life's journey who pointed me to Jesus.  Who taught me the truths of God's Word.

Even more grateful for a God who loves me so much.  Who never leaves me or forsakes me.  Who hears when I call.

"for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'"  (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)