Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

How lovely are these lines from God! He is convincing us with a rhetorical question, using the imagery of a mother that cannot forget her child feeding at her breast. Even if that were to happen, God will not forget you and me.

The pain of being forgotten or being left out or of being ignored is visceral and can lead us to acting out in many ways. It can also lead us to devalue ourselves which in turn can kill our joy and peace. The sad reality is that whether intentionally or unintentionally, we will forget some people and some people will forget us. In my case it is my own mom who left when I was 12 and it has been over 30 years but she refuses to be in a relationship with me and my siblings despite repeated attempts to reach out to her.

This reminds me of another verse in the Bible which says even if my mother and father abandon me; the Lord will hold me close (Psalm 27:10, NLT).

No matter who has forgotten us, God will never forget us. He even uses another imagery to emphasize this by saying our names are engraved on the palm of his hands. Wow. God can measure the heavens with just a breadth of his hand (Isaiah 40:12) so every conceivable name is written and remembered by our heavenly father who knew us even before we were conceived (Ephesians 1:4).

So today…remind yourself of how God is always seeing you and rest in his loving presence even as you go about your daily, mundane, chores. 

Let the truth of always being remembered by the one who loves you the most, warm your heart and light up your face.