We had traveled all night and not yet reached our destination, but in the middle of a dark Wyoming highway, my heart finally found home.

Being the young and impulsive 20-somethings we were, several of us decided that an all-night road trip would be a fun thing to do. So, armed with snacks and cassette tapes to last us the 20-or-so hours it would take to get from Sacramento, California to Ft. Collins, Colorado, we tag-teamed it on the highways and byways of the Western U.S. (Actually, it was mostly Interstate, so scratch the byways idea.)

Pulling over to the side of the road in a dark and lonely stretch of Interstate 80 in Wyoming, we got out to stretch our legs, shake off the sleepies, and change drivers. Even though we were heading to Colorado State University that summer for two weeks of seminary classes, I felt distant from God, shallow in my faith and monotonous in my walk with Jesus.

Star Gazing

And then I looked at the stars.

In the wide-open spaces that are Wyoming, God met me. In the vastness of the universe, He showed me His overwhelmingly personal love for me.

As I gazed at that midnight sky and took in the immense number of stars, and those only what I could see with the naked eye, God reminded me of Psalm 147:4: “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (English Standard Version.)

I was overcome. If the God of the universe could know and name all the stars, of which there are billions upon billions, how much more could he know me?

Again, the Psalms come to mind. Psalm 8 says this:

“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

God’s Love For Us

What was meant as just a late-journey pit stop to stretch our legs ended up being the impetus for a life of stretched faith, renewed energy and a clear and unflagging assurance that the God of the universe loves me. He has a plan for me. He never takes His eyes off me.

That summer trip was at least 35 years ago. The details are sketchy. I don’t remember the vehicle, nor do I even remember all of my companions, but I clearly recall the feeling of that roadside, the occasional roar of the semis passing us by, and the enveloping warmth of a God who knew that the stars He put in place would speak to me on that summer night.

I would go on from that summer to join the staff of a worldwide missionary organization and work to bring God’s love to the nations for the next 32 years until just a year and a half ago when I would answer God’s call to write full time. Through infertility struggles, the loss of my parents and an unexpected grandchild from an unmarried son, I have never doubted God’s love for me. All I have to do is look at the stars.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness

Lord unto me.

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Thomas Chisholm

Looking at the stars gives me a renewed energy and a clear and unflagging assurance that the God of the universe loves me. Click To Tweet