Have you ever felt that no one knew anything about
you?  Have you ever felt really alone in
a crowded room?  Have you ever talked,
and the person you were talking to seemed totally disinterested and a bit bothered
by the annoyance of your voice?  Has
anyone ever really mispronounced your name and when you corrected them, they
mispronounced it again?  I’m sure these things
and things like this have happened to all of us.

I remember my freshman year of playing soccer in
college.  I was a “no-name” freshman who
didn’t know much about soccer at all, but had a great desire to play.  In those days I was very fast.  I remember something that happened on the
second day of practice in the early morning practice before breakfast.  We had run two-miles and were running sprints
that were being timed and recorded.  I
was able to run the fastest time of the day, and the coach approached me and
asked me my name.  I told him I was Jim
Bracelin.  He then began to call me
Bresline for almost one month.  I did not
correct him … I wanted to play!

Today I was reading, and it touched my heart that
Jesus knew Mary Magdalene.  Following His
crucifixion, and on the morning of His resurrection, Mary came to the
tomb.  She found the body of Jesus
missing.  While the others left, Mary
remained behind weeping.   “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?’ She,
supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, ‘Sir, If Thou have borne Him
hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.’  Jesus saith unto her, ‘Mary’ …” (John 20:15-16a).  Jesus knew her name … He had designed her
fingerprints … He knew the hairs of her head … He was providing the oxygen she
required to live … and best of all, He knew her name.  When she heard her name from the voice of her
Savior, she knew that He had risen from the dead!   Her world and ours changed on that day!  Jesus is alive and well, and He knows your
name today.

Let me ask you a simple question … have you spent
enough time alone with God that you recognize His voice?  I’m not talking about an audible voice, but I
am talking about something just as real … that “still small voice” of God. 
That nudging of the Holy Spirit on your heart!  That time when you are reading your Bible and
it seems that God wrote a verse in the Bible just for you … just for that day …
just for what you are facing?  God still
speaks to us today, but the key is that we need to have a listening ear for His
voice.  God will lead and guide each of
us, if we will surrender and allow Him to do it.  Will you pause long enough today for God to
speak to you?