Sometimes it’s weird to look at pictures of yourself as a child.  Especially pictures of yourself at an age that you don’t remember.   That’s me?  Really?  Was I ever really only two years old?

Apparently I was, and here’s proof.  I had to dig this picture out last week for a women’s event at church where the attendees had to guess who was in the photos.  They guessed mine.  People said I haven’t changed.  Hope that’s a compliment!

But after I got home, this picture sat on my kitchen table for a few days, and I’d find myself staring at it.  I really don’t know why it fascinates me so much.  Am I trying to find a purpose and a meaning for the years and decades that followed?  Am I trying to figure out who I was and who I became?

When my parents took me for that picture, God knew the future of that smiling toddler.  And He knew exactly where I’d be today.  I wonder if He was laughing knowing that He’d put me in Florida where I’d hate the bugs (I spent the weekend killing ants and a cockroach crawled onto my computer keyboard yesterday morning), and hate the humidity, but where I’d find my passion and my calling.  I wonder if He was thinking about the joys and the disappointments and the blessings and the adventures and the jobs and the apartments and the churches and the friends.

I think He was.  And if a snapshot was taken of me today, He’d already be years down the road, knowing what lies ahead of this moment in time. This picture is comforting somehow.  To know that God was with me then, and He’s with me today, and He’ll be with me in the days ahead.  Whatever comes.

So maybe it’s a good idea to get out old snapshots every once in while. And be reminded of God’s faithfulness. And maybe His sense of humor as well.

You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Psalm 139:5

You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.  Psalm 139:2-3 NLT

For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.  Job 34:21