My friend called on Monday. Her niece, who lived 2000 miles away, had gone missing. Search crews were combing the area. No one knew where she was.

The word spread around the country. Texts and emails flew, Facebook posts went up. Phone lines were busy. God was besieged with prayers.

By the third day, we read on the Internet that the sheriff’s department had called off the search. There was no trace of her, no clues, no leads. Where was she?

Another of my friends wrote in an email: “God knows where she is.”  All week, I thought about the story Jesus told about the one lost sheep. The shepherd leaves all the others and searches until he finds it. And when he finds it, there is great rejoicing.

And when, on Thursday, the niece was found and returned home, even those of us who did not know her wept with thankfulness and relief.

The story Jesus told was about God seeking the lost soul. But, child of God, the Father knows exactly where you are, too. There is nowhere you wander that He does not know where you are, that His love does not surround you.

You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.

If I ride the wings of the morning,
   if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
   and your strength will support me.

One verse that always touches my heart: God knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust. He knows my weakness, wanderings, failures. He knows how far short of the goal I fall. And yet His love surrounds me. 

We children of God sometimes wander. Sometimes we feel far from home. But He knows where we are. And even in what we think is the darkness, even there His hand will guide us and His strength support us.

Scripture:  Taken from Psalm 139, NLT; Psalm 103:14, NIV