It was an ordinary day a few weeks ago when I stopped at the bank. This was one of my last errands before picking up my children from school and as usual the lines were a bit long, but eventually I was through, and with almost an hour left to spare! The day was going quite well (which means it was going according to my plan), so with one more item checked off my list, I headed back to my car.    

As I approached from a distance however, I realized that two of the windows were almost completely down.  It seems that in my haste I locked the doors, but did not turn up the windows! Let me just say that my steps and my heart rate both picked up considerably as I remembered my laptop, cell phone, and a rather valuable package I had just collected for my husband, all left in plain view! I could already see myself having a full blown panic attack in the parking lot, knowing full well that I did not have the first dollar to replace any of those items. But as I drew nearer to the door, gingerly peeking into the car, there they were, all of my possessions, just as I had left them.

I sat for a moment there in the driver’s seat and let my body relax, looking around at the stream of busy people going about their day completely blind to the free goodies I left sitting in my car, and quietly I thanked the Lord. He looked after the things I had forgotten!

And then I wondered, “How many times has the Lord attended to the things I overlooked?

How many times has He solved situations that were not on my ‘list’?

How often has his wisdom and love saved the day for me, even when I did not sense the danger?”

God’s love, power and knowledge are so great and sufficient that I can’t ever fully know the answers to those questions, but I feel the numbers are pretty high.

I sat for a moment there in the driver’s seat and let my body relax, looking around at the stream of busy people going about their day completely blind to the free goodies I left sitting in my car, and quietly I thanked the Lord. He looked after the things I had forgotten! And then I wondered, “How many times has the Lord attended to the things I overlooked? How many times has He solved situations that were not on my ‘list’? How often has his wisdom and love saved the day for me, even when I did not sense the danger?” God’s love, power and knowledge are so great and sufficient that I can’t ever fully know the answers to those questions, but I feel the numbers are pretty high.

So often we feel we’ve got it covered, we prayed, did our devotional and went out into the world, completely unaware of the trials awaiting us. Thankfully we are not on our own. In Romans 8: 26 – 27 we learn that, “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Isn’t that awesome?

“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

As we go about our affairs, and even as we pray presenting our petitions to God, let’s remember that we don’t carry any of this alone! It’s a relief to know that God does not rely on us to keep an accurate record of everything that needs attending to, and every problem that needs a solution. He does not expect us to know what is around the corner, nor how we will handle it.

As we approach each day and each trial, we have an advocate who prays the perfect prayer according to the will of God. By faith, know that God has covered our entire lives (including the stuff we have forgotten, or never even knew of!) with his power, mercy and love.