Just about every winter Bob grows a beard. Not being a lover of hairy chins, I tolerate it, usually with only minor groans and complaints. So guess what? In honor of Mother’s Day, Bob shaved off his beard on Saturday night so that I would wake up in the morning and have a man with a clean chin to kiss.

That was a selfless and loving gift. Perfect.

Except, I didn’t even notice.

Not when he climbed in bed on Saturday night or all day Sunday. I didn’t notice Monday either. Tuesday morning while I was making his breakfast, he nuzzled my neck and said, “You didn’t comment on my beard.”

He had to point it out to me. How sad is that? What’s the opposite of love? It’s not hate, it’s neglect, forgetting, ignoring.

         Yesterday I tried to think how to make up for ignoring Bob’s gift and I realized something about my relationship with God. I thought I had a High View of God at the beginning of this Bible Study Fellowship year, but through the study of Isaiah’s inspired words, God revealed so much more about Himself—things that have been there all along, but I didn’t have eyes to really see them or ears to really hear of them.

I call God Sovereign, Mighty, Omnipresent, and Holy, yet how often do I realize the way those attributes impact my life? Do I see His mighty hand protecting and guiding me every day? Do I feel His presence with me wherever I go? Do I fall on my face in awe of His fearsome holiness?

Or do I rush through my busy life without talking to Him? Do I squirm and try to wiggle free when in His sovereign design He allows something to happen that I don’t like? I know God is the Provider of all I need so why did it take so long for me to recognize that “the bread of adversity and the water of affliction” were training me to repent, trust, and wait?

This year’s study has opened my eyes to many wondrous things that have always been true about God—about His justice being on the same continuum with His amazing love. That His grace will not allow me to fall away too far before judgment draws me back. Isn’t it sad that He had to point these things out to me as I walked through the valley of financial instability in order for me to take notice?

God provides hope and strength to stand firm and courage for the future. I have learned this year to rest in God’s sovereignty and not run ahead of God—to be patient with God’s plan and God’s timing. Through the pages of Isaiah, God repeatedly pointed out that I must not listen to Man’s counsel. Instead, I need to remember what God has already done and turn over the throne of my life to the King of Kings. This means I must surrender all and let Him reign supreme, something I struggle with daily.

One of my favorite passages in Isaiah is about how God maintains the boundaries around me so that they fit my needs exactly. Isaiah 49:16: "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."

God hasn’t changed this year. But I have. In Isaiah, I have learned so much more about God’s amazing incomparable heart for His creation. I am so grateful that He pointed out all these things to me. I have a much higher view of God than I did 30 weeks ago when our study began and I bet I haven’t even begun to know all there is to learn about Him.