Ethel Waters used to sing this song at some of the Billy Graham crusades:
 
Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for heav'n and home;
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is he;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me
 
The song talks about discouragement, shadows, loneliness...all experiences we all face.  But does it ever occur to us that if God superintends the every day life of a sparrow that He is also superintending us even in times of discouragement, shadows, loneliness?  Jesus tells us: “29 Not one sparrow (What do they cost? Two for a penny?) can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't worry! You are more valuable to Him than sparrows.  (Matthew 10:29-31 TLB).  The question is...have we internalized that Truth Matter?  Do we understand that nothing in our lives is an accident?  No relationship, no circumstance, no discouragement is not orchestrated by God that knows what our need is.  God orchestrates the life of a sparrow.  He loves you so much that He chose you and sent His Son to pay your sin penalty on the cross...need I say any more?   Ethel Waters' song is a reminder:  “When Jesus is my portion; My constant Friend is He; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”
 
Today's My Utmost for His Highest points to this great truth:
 
“If I consider my individual circumstances, what do I see? Am I so identified with the life of the eternal Child of God that I, too, am simply his child, continually talking to him and realizing that all things come from him? Are the graces of his ministry working through me in my home, my business, and my community? Am I wondering why I'm going through the things I'm going through right now? It isn't that I have to go through them; it's that they have been chosen specifically for me by God's providence, with an eye to my growth in grace.”
 
Trust your God.  Our lives are an intricate, purposed, set of specific and individualized circumstances designed by a sovereign God who loves us beyond what we could imagine...to grow us and conform us to the likeness of His Son.  These “discouragements,” “shadows,” or “lonlinesses” are all part of His process.  Trust your God through them all.

And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.   For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers.  (Romans 8:28-29 TLB)  That is our confident prayer today.  Amen

Walk with the King today and be a blessing.