God has really been hammering home the point of my joy right now. I am confronted by it at every bend and curve in the road. Even the straight places smack of joy. It hides in the unlikeliest of places jumping out to exclaim, “I’m here! Remember me!”

“You would be very ashamed if you knew what the experiences you call setbacks, pointless disturbances, and tedious annoyances really are. You would realize that your complaints about them are nothing more nor less than blasphemies–that never occurs to you.” ~Caussade

I read that a few days ago in 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp and carefully copied it in my quote book. Then I read:

We saw His glory…for…we have all received one grace after another…” (John 1:14, 16)

Every time we look for, are alert enough to see His grace gifts to us every single day, every single moment, we behold His glory.

Every time we realize and say Thank you for a new sunrise, lungs that continually take in oxygen, a heart that keeps on beating, a brain that is still wired, nerves that still send signals of pain. Every time we hear laughter. Every time we see a star. Or the car starts. Or we don’t run out of gas. Or the car headed towards us does.

Every time we say Thank you for the good gifts, love, family, friends. Every time we say Thank you for the hard gifts: struggles, death, sickness. Every time we acknowledge His provision for us, we see His glory.

I read also about Hagar and the well God showed her. (The story is in Genesis 21.) She named it Beer-lahai-roi, which means “Well of the Living One who sees me.”

This wasn’t new to Hagar, that God did see her as she had encountered Him before in a big way.  She knew. The well she saw in Genesis 21 was not a new well. God didn’t just miraculously drop a well right there at just the right moment. He did draw her attention to what was already there.

Her need. His supply.

He saw her.

He sees me. He sees me the middle child always convinced she’s overlooked, invisible, not worth spit. He sees. He sees me.

The God of the universe, Creator of all things, He sees me! Little insignificant, small me. He sees me.

HE sees me. He SEES me. He sees ME.

No matter how you look at it, He sees.

If I can’t find the joy in that, I need stronger glasses, an entirely different prescription. A spiritual one.

Today I’m praying for eyes that see Him, a heart that wants to see, an eager anticipation of His presence, and a heart that swells with thankfulness for all of His grace gifts.