Awake
12:29 AM. I am wide awake. One after another their names and faces invade my thoughts. Even when I fall asleep, they follow me into my dreams. I wake up thinking of them, and this continues throughout my day. Friends I haven't seen in years, families whose hearts are bleeding for someone they love, and many who carry pain it seems nobody sees. Maybe some of them are awake tonight as well, wondering how they will make it through tomorrow. For those people, I'm glad to be awake, asking God to make Himself real to them when they need it most. I don't think it's an accident that on this particular night, there are specific people on my mind. Clearly, God knows better than I do the battles these people are facing at this very moment.

Because the physical world is constantly bombarding and overwhelming us, it is what seems most real to us. But is it really? I'm reading an interesting fiction book right now that talks a lot about how backwards this perspective is. Instead, one of the characters proposes that the reality we perceive is more like decorative tissue paper. It's pretty, but it does not last. It's interesting to consider. What is the real reality? I'm not trying to go into a full blown philosophical discussion of what is real right. However, I think times like this are an example of how incredible it is to be part of an eternal reality. Think about it. Earlier this week God woke me up and put a burden on my heart for a friend I hadn't talked to or seen in years. I couldn't stop thinking of them, and soon those thoughts turned into pleas. I begged God to protect them, comfort them, chase them, and give them whatever they needed at that moment. I still have no idea what those needs were, but I am confident that God did. He knew it was a critical moment, when they needed someone to fight for them.

But even in this, it wasn't me who was doing the fighting. I think God even gave me the gift of brokenness for that friend, and that knowledge gives me great hope. Yes, we are in a war. But we are not fighting it alone. Maybe God woke someone up to pray for you tonight. So whether you are resting or fighting tonight, soak up the realization that God sees you.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you know us intimately and accurately. Thank you that You are in us, with us, and for us, even when we sleep. Thank you for giving us glimpses of Your reality. Thank you that you cared about our pain enough to step into our reality and experience it for yourself, but that you also defeated it. And thank you that you still fight for those who trust in You. Help us to rest in that knowledge, tonight and throughout this week.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms," Ephesians 6:12.

"But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love," Psalm 33:18.