God Knows and Cares

For 10 or so years of my life, I was plagued by a chronic, recurring disease. The occurrences were not predictable, but the events, once begun, were. There would be pain building in severity followed by a four- or five-day stay in the hospital.

One day during that period remains so vivid in my memory. I was at the stage where I knew a hospital stay was becoming inevitable. I sat at my bedroom window looking out over the yard and the woods beyond — crying. I sat crying in despair to God. “Why did this happen to me? I know you didn’t promise to heal everyone, but you did promise to be with those who love you . . . and I feel so desperately alone. Show me a sign of your love.”

And I continued to cry in desperation: “If you love me, you will show yourself to me in the form of a deer, right now, Lord, right now. I need to feel your love right now.” As I continued to cry and look out the window, in what seemed only a few minutes, the most beautiful deer with the most beautiful antlers slowly walked out of the woods over to our driveway, onto the driveway and looked up at the window. The feeling I had at that moment was indescribable. The Lord had answered my plea.

As I ran through the house searching for someone to share my joy, the deer disappeared. But I will never forget how God showed his love to me on that day I needed him so badly.

— Diane Helbing

TODAY: It is spring. Plant a seed or a plant and watch it grow. And share this Eskimo prayer:

Everywhere is the green of new growth, the amazing sight of the renewal of the earth.
We watch the grass again emerging from the ground. We notice the bright green on the pine, the fir, the hemlock, the spruce, the cedar. The alder is already in leaf. The old plum trees still blossom, leaf and bring forth fruit. The locust tree is always late.

Everywhere and always the song of birds . . . Bees raiding the orchard, raccoons prowling at nightfall, the earthworm tunneling the garden, chickens and rabbits pecking and nibbling, the deer tugging to reach new delights. All are the ubiquitous energies of life. O Lord, may we today be touched by grace, fascinated and moved by this your creation, energized by the power of new growth at work in your world. May we move beyond viewing this life only through a frame, but touch it and be touched by it, know it and be known by it, love it and be loved by it.