HE SEES ME…HE SEES YOU!  By Lori A Alicea

For God so loved the world…
John 3:16 NIV

Framed and hanging in the personal hallway of God’s heart is a family portrait of all of us; those children named in His book and gathered from every place He spoke into existence; a Father’s pride and joy He can’t help himself from looking,

Because God so loved the world.

A God who holds the world in His hands;

In His hands are the depths of the earth…
Psalm 95:4 NIV

An omnipresent God whose arms they reach from east to the west in a Father’s embrace.

And yet, from the millions and billions of namesakes seated in His family portrait…Crowd at sports arena

An all knowing God…

Is so intimately aware of me…

photography of people having fun
Photo by Anton Belitskiy on Pexels.com

Aware of my days.
Aware of my thoughts.
Aware when I sleep.
Aware when I rise.
Aware of my ways.
Aware of my words.
Aware of my presence.

AND

All this knowledge is too wonderful for me;
(Psalm 139)

An all knowing God…

Who numbers and names the stars.
(Psalms 147:4)

Who sees the sparrows that fall.
(Matthew 10:29)

Because God so loved the world
That he gave his one and only Son,
That whoever believes in him
Shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV

He sees me…He sees you…

An intimate God we serve.

He saw me as I sat in a packed church sanctuary one evening just a week ago (from this writing).

Among the crowd of hundreds God saw me…God saw you.

crowd in front of people playing musical instrument during nighttime
Photo by picjumbo.com on Pexels.com

Speaking that evening was an evangelist anointed in the prophetic gifting, who travels the world unveiling the heart of God, ministering to the sick, ministering to the broken and hardened hearts of others.

Throughout the evening, God revealed himself in many ways through the prophetic gifting of this evangelist; through encouragement, healing, words of knowledge.

God saw me…God saw you among the crowds.

A personal God aware of me…aware of you…

Who spoke through a man who knew us not.

To one woman standing, the crowd and evangelist they laughed as he saw chickens too many to gather; a vision only God could have known as this wife and her husband had been praying in faith for a farm.

A Heavenly Father leaned in and touched the wounds of brokenness in marriages and individuals with His healing salve of love that night.

Prophetic words of encouragement were spoken to some which could have only been written from a pen in God’s hand, as they were so specific to the ones receiving.

In awe, God moved in our midst.

grayscale photography of people raising hands
Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

Caught off guard, the evangelist began calling out ailments one after the other, and for those in need to stand in faith to receive their healing.

Struggling not with health, I sat and believed for others in prayer.

But then God saw me.

Among the crowd of hundreds He saw me.

woman with white shirt raising her right hand
Photo by Josh Sorenson on Pexels.com

Somebody with a left eye issue please stand and receive your healing.”

In great thanksgiving, I stood in faith to receive my healing.

Alarmed days earlier, I began experiencing blurred vision in my left eye when looking afar and communicated this to my husband the need to see an optometrist.

An attentive Father noticed.

Just like that, the vision of my left eye was clear again.

I basked in the joy as a little girl at Christmas that evening one week ago.

An all knowing God so intimately aware of me…

He sees me…He sees you…

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me…
Psalm 139:6 NIV

THE WELL WE DRAW FROM  By Lori A Alicea

Her life was a deep well to draw from.

The splashing of water spills over from bucket to bucket, colliding with one another from broken sisters lowering their needs into the well of this woman’s life, drawing forth a cup of refreshment from the Lord she was offering.

A drink…

To quench a lonely heart…

To survive another day…

To give hope for tomorrow…

To encourage the discouraged…

From a well that never went dry in the Lord, we drank.

unrecognizable woman touching water in garden
Photo by Dmitriy Ganin on Pexels.com

I knew her well.

Pastor of Ladies Ministry; we called her Pastor Sue.

In her china cabinet of Ladies Ministry, each broken china doll was displayed as beautiful; never acknowledging the cracks of our lives, only giving us a special place and purpose to belong, to find healing, to be loved.

And that we did.

A newly single mother with two small children and walking thru doors of this church for the first Sunday that week thirty-three years ago, I hadn’t realized how parched and thirsty for a drink from the Lord I needed.

When you’re tilling up the fields of new beginnings, one fails to assess their “strength of heart” when those children you hold in your arms depend on their mother from fainting not.

A cup of cool water filled to its brim was handed to me as I stood in my brokenness at the well of this woman’s life.

Ladies ministering to ladies…

Continually pouring into our cups from the buckets drawn from God’s love the ladies served…

Being the example before us, Pastor Sue served from the posture of servant as Jesus served.

With an open hand Pastor Sue she gave, she lavished and poured out generously as Jesus did so with his life.

Pastor Sue taught us daughters by example and portrait titled Virtuous Woman from the gallery in her role as wife, mother and friend.

Pastor Sue drank from the well of Living Water, and served those desperate for a drink from the same well in her life.

As a young mother I watched and learned and I drank; eventually pouring into the cups of broken women thirsty and desperate for a drink themselves.

I’ve never forgotten the friendship and deep well of Pastor Sue’s life.
Pastor Sue
Facebook photo from Tina Freeman

She modeled a life of Christ that had you thirsting for more of Him.

Pastor Sue took us to the shallow wells of bitterness, wells of rejection, the wells of sorrow, we might drinking from.

Then showed us how to close up those wells, and take us to the deep places, where the splashing of water spills over from bucket to bucket, colliding with one another from broken sisters lowering their needs into the well of this woman’s life, drawing forth a cup of refreshment from the Lord she was offering.

unrecognizable woman touching water in garden
Photo by Dmitriy Ganin on Pexels.com

The pages of Pastor Sue’s life are found and read from the scriptures where the older teach the younger the truths of a virtuous woman; an amazing read which still has a place on the shelf of this mother, now grandmother’s heart.

These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.
Titus 2:4-5 NLT