I drove the freeway at sunset this evening.  Through an underpass, up an incline, when there before me was the setting sun – ablaze and golden, massive in size – its width twice the size of the road ahead. 

It took my breath away. 

I’ve seen many an Arizona sunset, but I’ve never seen the sun look like that.

The sheer size of it was what stunned me the most. 

Within seconds the moment had passed, and I could see it no more. 

But it got me thinking.

I found myself reflecting on the majesty of our God. 

This God that could light the whole world through one massive globe that never burns out. 

This God who created the ocean in its enormity, and the tiny atom, invisible to the eye.

And then he created you and me. 

Each one of us, carefully designed with thought and purpose.  And made in the very image of God himself.

Psalm 139 details much of this.  How he made us, how he knows us, how he sees us, how he loves us. 

And that’s why it’s my very favorite.  And why I want to share it with all of you.

I made a list directly from this psalm for you to just sit and take in. 

I hope you will take a moment to do that, even if you’ve read this psalm before.

As you read it, personalize it – me being not me, the writer, but YOU, my friend. 

Here it is:

~Psalm 139~

How God MADE me:

• He made all the delicate, inner parts of my body.
• He knit me together in my mother’s womb.
• He made me wonderfully complex.
• He recorded every day of my life in his book before one of them came to be.

How God KNOWS me:

• He knows my thoughts, even when I’m far away.
• He knows what I am going to say even before I say it.
• No matter where I go, he is always with me.
• His hand always guides me, and his strength always supports me.

How God SEES me:

• He saw me before I was born.
• He sees everything I do.
• He sees ME, even in darkness.

And best of all…

How God LOVES me:

• He places his hand of blessing on my head.
• His thoughts about me are precious and cannot be numbered.
• In fact, he has more thoughts about me than there are grains of sand!
• When I wake up each day, he is STILL thinking about me.

Now that’s a love story if I’ve ever read one. 

No man will ever love you like that.

BUT HE DOES.

He is the hope for all of us, the love story we all seek.

How could we not adore the ONE who cannot get us out of his head? 

The one who sees us in all our mistake-making, the one who knows our selfishness, our judgmental thoughts, our unkind intentions, our careless words?

The one who sees our imperfections but adores us anyway?

The one who gave his only son to die a sinner’s death so that he could bring you home to live with him forever?

Take this in, girls.

You are deeply, endlessly loved.

And all he asks of us is that we believe this, that we receive the precious gift of his son, that we love him and others, and worship him in return. 

Because this kind of love deserves our deepest respect and devotion.

Some time back when I began to feel the call to write, God shared something with me.

As part of my morning meetings with Jesus, I always take a few moments to journal what he has to say.  Sometimes he gives me encouragement for my soul, sometimes it’s a love letter, sometimes it’s a hard word for choices I’ve made or insight into the struggles of a loved one. 

But this particular day, he told me that this was meant to be shared with all of you. 

I hope you will see his deep love for you as you read it: