Unnoticed To Everyone But God

She was raised in a Christian home.
Her parents expected her to go to church.
There was no excuse.
She didn’t mind though; she liked going to church.

Youth group was another story.
She went because it was expected, but that is all she did.
She never wanted to go to any activities.
She showed up for youth group and to her that was enough.

She was thirteen years old at the time.
There was a boy in youth group.
He was nice; he was cute.
He was sixteen.

Youth group became more interesting.
After a few years, they began dating.
Then the young man went into the service.
She was at youth group alone once again.

She had no motivation to go to youth group.
She stayed home.
One day, she received a note in the mail.
It was from a youth group leader.

I miss you at youth group.
I wanted you to know that I am  praying for you and for your boyfriend.
This note is not intended to pressure you in any way.
It is simply to let you know that you are missed.

She saved the note.
She tucked it away in a safe place and forgot about it.
The youth leader was a woman who loved to pray.
It was comforting to know the woman was praying for her boyfriend in the service.

The young man was protected and came back safely from his time in the service.
When she was twenty-one and he was twenty-four years old, they were married.
They began to attend a little Baptist church.
They raised their family there.

The young man, who was now her husband, was baptized in that church.
She was very involved in the church.
Her husband began to serve as well.
Their children grew up in the church; they attended Sunday school and youth group.

Many years after her own days in youth group, she had a delightful surprise.
The youth leader from all those years ago was coming to the little church she now attended.
She couldn’t wait to see her again.
She couldn’t wait to show her that she married the young man from all those years ago.

They met in the church that day.
The youth leader, now much older, did remember her.
She wanted to show her youth leader all that God had done in their lives.
Here they were, loving and serving the Lord together.

She was cleaning out some drawers recently and found it.
She found the note the youth leader had written to her all those years ago.
She read it again.
She was touched to read that the woman prayed for her and for her future husband.

All those years ago, the youth leader prayed for her and her boyfriend.
Her prayers reached far into the future.
God answered abundantly.
The couple married, joined a church, and served the God they loved with their gifts.

All this was told in a story at the end of Bible study.
We have been studying the book of Nehemiah.
In the book of Nehemiah, there are two chapters which include name after name.
Those names are lists of faithful people who do simple things for God and His Kingdom.

They are the unsung heroes.
They are ones who lived in Jerusalem, took care of the temple, and watched the gates.
They are the ones who led others in prayer and thanksgiving.
They are the ones who sang.

They did not do anything terribly important but what they did mattered.
Unsung heroes always do things that matter because they matter to God.
They do simple things that often go unnoticed.
However, they do not go unnoticed to God.

The youth leader prayed for a young girl and her boyfriend.
The youth leader had no idea that her handwritten note would mean so much.
She had no idea that her prayers would bear so much fruit.
Nothing she did was to make a name for herself; she did what she did for God alone.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...(Colossians 1:9,10)

The prayers of the youth leader bore much fruit.
The couple have been married for forty-eight years.
The youth leader had no idea of the scope of her prayers.
But God knew and He saw fit to answer abundantly.

Do you have an unsung hero who is coming to mind?
Have you thanked that person for their faithfulness?
Have you, in turn, become an unsung hero for someone else?
It matters; it really does.