When Sun’s husband had a stroke, her life took a dramatic turn. She found herself having to assist her husband with daily living activities and cope with his emotional outbursts. For seventeen years, she’d faithfully cared for her husband. When a fall hastened his decline, however, the weight of caregiving finally became too much, and Sun sank into depression. She shared, “I felt I’d lost my faith, and I couldn’t see God.” But looking back, Sun now believes that God saw her. She believes that in very real and timely ways, He soon provided subsidized home medical and nursing care to manage her husband’s chronic condition and sent social workers to support Sun in managing the emotional challenges of caregiving. God revealed himself as the God who sees in the story of Hagar. In Genesis 16, the slave Hagar was running away from her mistress’ mistreatment (v. 6) when the angel of the Lord found her “near a spring in the desert” (v. 7). He urged Hagar to “go back to [her] mistress” (v. 9) and assured her of His blessing. Even though Hagar was a nobody in her culture, God was watching out for her well-being. In gratitude, Hagar declared: “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13). God sees us in our distress too. We’re never alone because our loving Father knows our situation, and He’s trustworthy. We can cry out to Him for help and trust that He will lift us up.
