Watching Over You
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
It started out as a very joyous day when I was awoken by the phone ringing and my sisters voice on the other end, announcing her baby's arrival. Not long after my Mom and I took her two other children to the hospital where we all learned it was a little boy and his name was Caleb. Soon after my brother and his wife and their children arrived and we took turns passing this beautiful baby boy around, celebrating his arrival. It was only a few hours later when I was driving the baby's older brother and sister to their home in a nearby town did I get a very different phone call. This one to announce that baby Caleb had water on his lungs and had to be put on a machine to help with his breathing and a tube to help with his feeding. For the next five days his parents didn't leave the hospital and the rest of the family came and went, taking turns at Caleb's bedside, watching over him as he slept in the incubator. Not able to touch him, but wanting to watch over him just the same.
Nothing To Do But Watch
As I sat there with my little nephew, I memorized every detail, took notice of any minor change, whether that was how his chest moved up and down as he breathed or how the numbers on the machine took on a different routine. There was nothing any of us could do but sit and watch, but our love for this little baby would allow us to do no less.
During one of my turns of watching and praying, I felt a holy moment when the Holy Spirit brought to mind that in the same way that I was watching over Caleb in that moment, God has always been watching over me. Not only during the periods of my life when I required observation due to sickness or circumstances, but during every single moment of my life. And the same is true for you.
God's Eyes Are On Us
He watches us as we are awake and when we are asleep. His eye is on us when we laugh and also when we cry. He observes us when we give into sin and also when we win the fight against temptation. He sees us when we are strong and He keeps watch even when we are weak. And unlike us humans who can't stay alert for long stretches, He never gets distracted or drifts off to sleep. As we learn in Psalm 121:
"I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever." Psalm 121:1-8
We Don't Travel Alone
Nowhere in these verses are we promised that we will never pass through deep waters or deserts or storms, but we are promised that no matter where we go in life, we don't go there without God watching over us. No matter what life brings your way, you're never walking through it alone. God Himself sees each one of your steps on this earth and then stands ready to escort you into eternity with Him as soon as your journey on this earth has been completed. And no where along the way can you be taken away out of His care. As Jesus said in John 10:
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one." John 10:27-30
24/7, 365
Five days after his birth, my nephew Caleb made a complete recovery so his parents, our family, and the amazing medical team at the hospital have all now given up our vigil over him, but it brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye to know that no matter where Caleb goes in this life or whatever he does, the same God who loves and watches over me also loves and watches over him, 24/7, 365 days a year. The same goes for you my friend.
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