What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. Matthew 10:29 (NLT)

Lately, it seems like the lives of people around us have been hit with deaths and sadness, with depression and struggles, with loneliness and fear. It is draining to stand by and watch it happen on a daily basis to strangers, much less experience it with people we know. I find myself asking God to help me know what to say to them, but I usually mess that up, I think. But, I sincerely hurt for them. It's the way He made me which is a curse and a blessing. Recently, I have found some things encouraging, and I hope all of it encourages you, too.

Matthew 10:29. He is watching you and everything that happens to you. He does not let even a sparrow fall without knowing that it fell. You are worth far more than a sparrow, friend. God is not caught off guard when things go wrong. It does not surprise Him when tragedy hits or when his child is hurting. I think of Rob often, or the broken friends I spend hours with on the phone, or my neighbor who passed this weekend, or the patients I have met who have passed minutes later. The pain is real regardless of the situation, but God did not create those people with a purpose to last 26 years or 65 years or 38 years; or with a purpose of being lonely and depressed. He created them and you for eternity with Him. When I think of this world, I would rather the people we have lost be there with Him than here. If you're lonely, if you're hurting, if you're down, He wants you to come to Him with your pain. He provides a hope like no other.

He also wears the coolest, ultimate, fanciest, waterproof (?) watch ever. His timing is perfect to the nanosecond. Some real life examples of His perfect timing, from great to small, that I have experience in the past week:

Exhibit A: My best friend from high school was pregnant with a baby boy. I threw her a shower at my house the last weekend of May, and everyone experienced in the bearing of children (which I am not and won't be for a very long time unless of course the scooter does not happen) told her HOW BIG and HOW SWOLLEN she was. As much as I wanted to be supportive, I could tell something was not right. I really encouraged her to stop working so much (she is an accountant- you are all crazy to work as much as you do). The next day, she left for Dallas for a work training conference (as predicted- she's a stubborn one). While in Dallas, she had a headache and called her doctor. The doctor said if the headache did not go away with 2 Tylenol, she would need to go to the hospital. She ended up going, with her roommate, in the middle of the night. They chose Baylor simply because they recognized the name. When she got there, she had a seizure and they took the baby via emergency c-section. Good timing. Ty Richard Clark is a precious little ball of skinny baby. His mom and dad hope to fatten him up rather quickly. Turns out, Baylor specializes in premature births. It also turns out that her doctor in Houston knew she was at risk and failed to tell her to go to the hospital; instead he uttered the cliche, "Take 2 and call me in the morning". If she had waited, she would have seized in the hotel and probably would have lost the baby. We are thankful that that doctor didn't deliver Ty.
*Sidenote of advice from the author: please be smart patients. Know your doctor. Know where he/she came from. Know their background. If something does not feel right, find another one. I will help you. You know your body better than any doctor, and it is not worth it to get shady health care especially when you pay so much for it, capiece??*

This is Ty.

Exhibit B: Yesterday, I spent the day with my mom. Around 4:30, my brother, Zach, called and while I ran into the grocery store, my mom sat in the car to chat with him. About an hour later, he called again. A Metro train had collided with another in Washington, D.C., and he should have been on that train. If he had not stopped to talk to my mom, and if he had not left work 10 minutes late, he would have caught his normal train.


Exhibit C: I came home drained last night. I had a breakdown about all things life- work, health, missing my brothers, my friends dealing with things they shouldn't have to deal with, my interview tomorrow and the way Satan tells me I'm not capable of the job. Maybe it's not the best example of perfect timing, but after I had cried and blabbed like a crazy girl and worried for what seemed like forever (I made Devin miss going to the gym), I don't think Devin knew what to say or do, so he just asked if I needed a hug, and I realized it was all I wanted. So, to me, it was perfect timing.

So it's not a picture of a hug, but I love it.

We are more than a sparrow, and maybe it feels like he's not watching you now, but when we take our focus off of what He is seemingly "doing to us" and focus more on what he is protecting us from with his exceptional timing and flawless plan, it's a sweet, sweet feeling.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

- His Eye is on the Sparrow, Lyrics by Civilla Martin