My baby does the sweetest thing every time that she sleeps…she will periodically reach out, searching for me, even in her sleep. Whenever I peek in on her, she always has one little arm extended, and I know she’s been reaching for me. Sometimes, I lie down next to her and hold her little hand, just to let her know I’m there.

There are times when she can’t find me there, and it worries her. Sometimes I can hear her fussing, restless, and when I go to check on her, she is reaching to see if I am lying next to her. As I lied down next to her today, quieting her, I wanted so much to reassure her that, even when she cannot feel me right next to her, I am always close by.

It made me think of our Father in Heaven. There are times that we seem to reach, to try to find Him, but we worry whether or not He is really there. How He must long to reassure us that He is always there, and if we quiet ourselves, we will feel Him.

Just as I sometimes let the baby try to rest on her own, making little noises now and then so that she still knows she’s okay, there are times when it feels that He does allow us to walk a little further on our own, without the constant, clear answers we would like to have.

But it doesn’t mean that He is gone or is removed from us. He is allowing us to grow. But I know that we can always be assured that He is there. Just as I would never leave my baby to be alone, He will never leave us alone. I may not take a nap with her every day, because she needs to learn to do it on her own. But I will come to her once in a while, and whisper reassuring words. Just the same, if we strive to grow as our Father wants us to, we will hear Him, as well.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Isaiah 30: 20-21