Pleasant Awakening

Have you never heard?

Have you never understood?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

The Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of His understanding.
Isaiah 40:28 NLT

Last Thursday evening, I visited my friends Steve & Katina. They have two darling daughters, Ella (6) and Nora (3). Katina and I had not seen each other in several months, so our visiting lasted well into the wee small hours of the morning! By that point, we had both thought it would be better for me to just sleep over rather than drive the 45 minutes home. Nora is now in a big-girl bed (queen-size, no less), so I just slid into the bed with her and "Elmo." Nora never stirred as I drifted off to sleep at about three in the morning.

I awakened to 3-year-old Nora lovingly staring at me and tenderly "petting" the side of my arm. She was grinning as though she had just found out that she could slide down a rainbow and eat candy for breakfast!

• "Rainey!" she whispered.
  
• "Good morning," I whispered back with a smile.
• "Did you know you slept in my bed with me all night?"
• "I did." I said as I stifled a little giggle, "Did you know I slept with you all night?"
• "Yeah!" she said very matter-of-fact, "me an' Elmo knew."
  

Then she decided we should get up and go have some cereal and watch Dora The Explorer. As quickly as she could get out of her bed and toddle down the hallway, our sweet little moment was gone.

I wonder how many times that I have been pleasantly "surprised" to awaken and realize that God was with me all the time through the dark of my night? How many times have I questioned His understanding of what was going on in my life as though He were not present? Yet, He does not scold me for being surprised at what I should have known was true all along. Instead, He delights in the sweet little moments when I quietly draw near to Him, and patiently awaits my return when I have gotten side-tracked by other things.

Praise the Lord for His understanding and presence in our lives!