You can find Part One here.

We were passing out yearbooks at the end of the school year and HE had mine. You know who HE is-the one that held your attention all school year. The one you hoped you’d brush elbows with in the lunch line, or sit next to in class. The one you giggled about when you heard his name and who gave you butterflies in your stomach when he smiled.

Yeah, that was him. And he had my yearbook.

Of course I couldn’t wait to see what he’d written. When class ended, I opened up the book, eagerly looking for the message he’d left. Upon finding it, I read, “Hey you…”

There was more to it that I don’t remember now. But, I do remember that greeting: “Hey you.”

It took me a minute to realize this guy, that I had been noticing all school year, didn’t even know my name.

He hadn’t even noticed me.

Ouch.

Friends, has that ever happened to you?

You long to be noticed and you wind up ignored.

You long to stand out and yet you blend into the crowd.

You long for someone to really see you and see your worth and yet you’re either invisible or it seems you have no value or worth.

I’m sure Hagar felt like she didn’t matter. She was just a means to an end and after enduring the mistreatment from her mistress, Sarah, she finally had enough and she ran. What’s so amazing is that her story doesn’t end there. It very well could have. She could have just been a small tangent in the saga of Sarah and Abraham but yet the Bible gives her story room. We find that after she ran, the angel of the Lord appeared to her And he said,

“Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” Genesis 16:7.  

Did you notice that? He called her by her name. There wasn’t a “Hey you!” Or a scrambling to remember who she was and where He knew her from. She was known to Him and special enough that He met her there in the midst of her situation. Hagar’s response is,

“You are the God who sees me.” Genesis 16:13

Wow.

In the midst of all that she has been through, she realizes this unshakeable truth: God sees.

God saw Hagar and God sees us.

Why?

Because He loves us.

He notices us. He knows more than just our name. He knows our thoughts and what makes us unique. He notices us in the mundane days, in the routine of life. He notices what we do even we feel unappreciated and invisible. He meets us right there-in the midst of homework, jobs, dishes, diapers, and when other people seem to disregard us.

I love this quote by Rich Mullins:

“God notices you. The fact is he can’t take his eyes off of you. However badly you think of yourself, God is crazy about you. God is in love with you. Some of us fear that someday we’ll do something so bad that he won’t notice us anymore. Well, let me tell you, God loves you completely. And he knew us at our worst before he ever began to love us at all. And in the love of God there are no degrees, there is only love.”

Friends, let this encourage you today! We have a God who is not too busy to notice us. We have a God who loves and sees us and who knows our name.