While I was in training to lead small groups a couple of weeks ago, our teacher asked us: “How do you feel when someone is intentional with you?” Many from the class shared how they felt seen, valued, known, loved, cared for, and like they truly mattered. As the week went by, this concept stuck with me. It seems like intentionality is one of the keys to connection and developing deeper, more meaningful relationships.

The word intentional means done on purpose or with a specific goal in mind. It comes from the Latin word intentio, which means a stretching toward or turning one’s attention to. The word’s meaning originally described a physical stretching, but later was used to describe a mental one.

We can put it this way: intentionality is a thought or idea that originates in the mind and is purposefully carried into action that can be seen and felt.

God Is Intentional

This reminds me of Psalm 139, particularly verses 17 and 18:

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.” – Psalm 139:17-18

Our God is so intentional that He is constantly thinking about us. His thoughts toward us don’t just stay inside His mind. Instead, He reaches out and turns those thoughts into actions. God always finds ways to show us His love, to express His kindness, and to let us know we are seen, valued, and connected.

A few weeks ago, I was having a bit of an off day. There had been many thoughts going on in my head and lots of disappointments mixed with the joys of life. I woke up and saw a message from a friend. She had written to me just to say that she felt God prompting her to tell me that I wasn’t alone, and that I could count on her as a friend. She couldn’t have known how I was feeling at that moment, but God knew. In His great intentionality, God showed me how much He sees and cares.

Moments like this have happened time and again throughout my life. One time, when I was complaining to God that no one ever reached out to me, I got a message from a friend in my young writers’ community asking me how she could pray for me. God has shown me repeatedly that not only is He thinking about me, but that He cares. Curiously, He even finds ways of doing this without other people. He will remind me of His care through a song that pops up in my playlist. He will suddenly stop me and point out the sky and then share His heart with me. Once, when I was battling anxiety, He told me to imagine Him sitting beside my bed every night. To this day, I can still see Him sitting beside me, keeping watch, whenever I’m having a rough night. He is such a creative God that His thoughtfulness knows no bounds.

God Is Close

More than just being thoughtful from a distance, God is involved and present. Psalm 139 opens by saying that He knows our sitting down and our rising up. He is a hedge of protection all around us and no matter where we go or find ourselves, His presence will follow.

Many of us have become accustomed to boxing God into a distant reality where He is only reachable if we reach out to Him first. Or we imagine Him far away in Heaven, far too busy to be interested in us. And yet, the truth is that God is an “up close and personal” kind of God. He is with us on our day-to-day business. He cares about our victories, joys, and sorrows. He celebrates with us, and I believe He also weeps with us.

Why? Because He is an intentional God. He continuously thinks about us, and then He turns those thoughts into action to show how close He is to us. Who else would care so much as to be constantly invested in the little details of our lives? What a privilege it is to know Him!

You Are Seen

I’m saying all this because I want to remind you how much God sees and loves you. He sees all of you: the good, bad, and ugly. He still loves you, and He still pursues you. He will never stop chasing after you and thinking about you. In fact, He is such a powerful God that despite there being billions of people in the world, He sees you with undivided attention and knows you better than anyone else.

Maybe you haven’t had people see you in your lowest moments, reach out to you when you needed it the most, or simply sit with you through pain. If so, I want you to know that there has never been a moment when God stopped thinking about you. There has never been a moment when you sat alone in your grief, or were completely isolated in your mind. In the lowest of lows and darkest of nights, God has been there, sitting with you and thinking about you. And in your victories, when it felt like you had no one to share with, He was dancing with joy and loudly celebrating you.

If you have felt unseen, unreachable, unknown, or like no one truly understands the sorrows you’ve been experiencing or the breakthroughs you’ve had, then know this: God is crazy about you! And He will stop at nothing to turn all those millions of thoughts He has about you into actions that can show you just how much He cares.

My prayer for you is that you will be able to see yourself through God’s eyes and experience just how deeply He knows and loves you. I encourage you to take a moment to pause and ask Him: God, how are You being intentional toward me today?

Thanks for reading!
Anna

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Photo by Ranurte on Unsplash