His eye is on the sparrow...

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Charles H. Gabriel, 1905
Matthew 10:29-31

Three years ago this June, I went to the airport with my boyfriend at the time and his family as he was leaving for a summer-long mission trip to the Philippines. I had handled everything really well until we were watching as his plane pulled onto the runway and then pulled back up to the terminal...for what reason we had no clue. Every crazy bad thing that could happen started flooding into my head, and worry hijacked my heart. And then, out of the corner of my tear-filled eye, I saw three little birds flitting around the airport, and these verses popped into my head. (Praise God for His Word and for parents who encourage hiding it in my heart!) "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

I think we associate these verses with being comfortable too often. Jesus loves us! Hooray! But SO MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD DON'T KNOW THAT. The context of these verses is Jesus sending out His disciples on the mission trip of a lifetime. He showed them the crowds for whom He had so much compassion and told them that the harvest was ready - to pray for God to send out workers. Then Jesus gave them authority and power in His name and gave them specific instructions about who to serve, how to serve, and a pretty radical packing list - NOTHING. :/ yikes.

He warned them that this would not be easy - that the crowds would turn against them and persecute them. But He says DO NOT BE AFRAID. He challenges "Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

So I sing because I'm HAPPY - striving to do His will, follow His commands, living life as He did in INTIMATE fellowship with the God of the universe.
I sing because I'm FREE - free from the American Dream, from materialism, FREE from sin that holds me back.
His eye is on the sparrow, and I KNOW He watches me.

My 7-year-old cousin Layla gave me a card today to take with me to Peru, and in it she wrote, "Dear Amber I will miss you remember this : Fear not for I am with thee. Ihsaiha 43:5"
Fear not. For HE IS WITH ME. We serve a God who loves His children, who knows the number of hairs on their heads! And this is what He has called us to do....
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "ALL AUTHORITY on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, GO and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20