According to recent data from the US Census Bureau, a woman’s annual earning are on average $9,909 less than her male counterpart. Even after all the years of fighting for equal rights, women find themselves having to work harder to prove their competency. They feel undervalued and underappreciated.

Living with that inequality has been challenging enough in our society, so imagine with me for a moment that you are a woman living in a society that doesn’t value women AT ALL. Now imagine further that you are a slave to a woman. You are lower than the low. You have no rights, no say.

You would not only struggle with feeling less than, you may even feel invisible, like you don’t matter.

I imagine that’s how Hagar felt. Hagar was the slave girl to Sarai. Hagar’s purpose in life was to serve Sarai.

Sarai was married to Abram and God promised them a son, but for Sarai, God wasn’t moving fast enough, so she took it upon herself to use her handmaiden Hagar as a means to build her family.

So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her” (Genesis 16:2).

Well, Hagar did get pregnant. But instead of it being a joyous occasion, things took a turn for the worse and Sarai began treating Hagar with malice and contempt. The slave woman who was already less than was now despised.

Could it get any worse? I admit, if I were Hagar, I might be wondering why God was allowing this to happen to me. Maybe even wonder, God where are you?

Hagar couldn’t take it anymore. Here she was carrying a child for another woman who hated her.

At her loneliest, lowest point, Hagar the servant girl ran away.  But to where? She had no money, no influence, nothing!

She was a nobody headed nowhere. Her only hope was to go back to her family in Egypt but the chances of her surviving the trek through the desert were almost nonexistent.

How desperate Hagar must have felt to reach the point where she felt she has no other option but to take her chances and leave.

In that lonely, desperate place, is where the Lord God showed up.

Bringing comfort in a confusing time, the Lord instructed her to return to her mistress Sarai and told her, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count” (Genesis 16:10).

Talk about encouragement when you desperately needed it. It was as though God breathed new life into Hagar and gave her the strength she needed to endure her situation.

She was so overcome with relief that she responded, “You are the God who sees me,” and, “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Genesis 16:14b).

Could you imagine the pure joy and renewed hope Hagar must have felt?

Maybe you’re wondering where God is in your situation.

Are you feeling betrayed?  Forgotten? Invisible?

I want to assure you today, that no matter where you are, what you’re doing or who’s done you wrong…God sees you!

He has not forgotten you. The plan God has for your life is still in play today.

I understand how easy it is to feel forgotten when you are in the midst of life’s difficulties.

If you’re filled with doubt, fear or insecurity and hoping to be restored, justified or vindicated, follow Hagar’s three-step example:

Step 1: Allow yourself to be found by God.

Wherever you go, there you are. You can try to run from your circumstances, but you can’t out run God.

Step 2: Submit to His authority.

Only God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). Only God truly knows what we need and when we need it. Will you trust Him even when it doesn’t make sense?

Step 3: Receive life.

God has spoken His Word of life over you just as He did with Hagar. He knows the thoughts and plans He has for you, plans for hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). All you need to do is receive it.

God saw Hagar and restored her to life. He is the same God that is with you today.

Will you trust Him to restore you? As a show of commitment, give me an ‘Amen’ in the comments. I’d love to pray for you.

Want more?  If you are ready to answer the cry for purpose with the determination to discover. join us for a FREE 5 Day Devotional called Created with Purpose.  You can access it here

Hi, I’m Kris.