The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. (Gen. 16:7)
I was lost. I had been on a train in India for over twenty-four hours, traveling from the city of my hosts to the city where my Compassion child lived. Unfortunately, I got off at the wrong stop. So, I called my host family, and they encouraged me to come home. There I sat, despondent, holding in my hands the gifts I had brought for Sathya and her brother and mother. I began to pray a simple prayer: “Jesus, do that thing where you make everything okay.”
Hagar was lost in the desert. The passage doesn’t say that she sought out the Lord, but the angel of the Lord found her anyway. He was searching for her. We all feel lost at times. Some of our periods of being lost are longer than others. But rest assured that the Lord is seeking you out. And sometimes being found is worth being lost in the first place, because it reminds us that our God is willing to seek us out.
Jesus answered my childlike prayer that day. Through an incredible series of miracles, I eventually made it to the city of my Compassion child and then home again safely. It is a story I love to tell because, for me, the story is not about being lost but about being found.
When you feel lost, know that God is there for you.
Aaron Wilkinson is a member of College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and works at Wesley Seminary. His favorite word is eucatastrophe.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
