Luke 24: 30-31

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

Do you recognize Jesus when you see him?

As Christians, we would hope the answer to that question would be a resounding yes! After all, who would want to miss a moment like that? Not me!

But yet, I’m afraid I’ve often failed to recognize Jesus. Too busy. Too many things on my mind. Too much time spent on worrying about me and my problems.

The minute things start going wrong in our life, we go in a panic. Where is God? Why is He letting this happen to me? What did I do to make God mad? Life isn’t supposed to be like this–it’s supposed to be easy, right? Wrong.

Jesus never promised us we wouldn’t have problems but he did promise he would never leave or forsake us.

If you aren’t recognizing Jesus in your present circumstances, take some time and reflect on your past. As you do, you will begin to recognize that Jesus was there, guiding you, supporting you, and loving you even in the toughest of times. And even that many of the things that were hard when we were going through it, actually was a good thing in the long run.

A few years ago, my part-time position as a speech pathologist was eliminated. And it was the PERFECT JOB for me. I loved the kids, the teachers, even the principal was a nice guy. I was not a happy camper, but a few months later I was diagnosed with bilateral brain tumors.

Now, I know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t have quit the job on my own, like I said, it was the PERFECT JOB. Instead, I would have kept the job while I was undergoing treatments and side-effects from the treatment and…all that wold have done was cause me stress!

God knew me well enough to know that too.He smoothed out the rough road ahead of me by making sure I could concentrate on my health instead of stressing out about responsibilites that I could not have fulfilled.

God is so good!

I didn’t recognize Jesus at the time, but he was with me anyway. If you are in the midst of a tough situation, pray for God to open your eyes so that you can recognize Jesus. He is with you!

I’d love for you to share a time when God was with you even when you didn’t recognize him.