I have a beautiful vintage watch that we won in an auction when we lived in Florida. It’s worked perfectly until just recently, when the stem became disengaged, and I could no longer set the time.

We found a jeweler over in Dallas, who worked on this particular brand and age of watch, so we dropped it off for an estimate a couple of weeks ago. After receiving the mind-blowing number this week, we (with shock and awe) politely declined and said we’d be by to pick it up, which is exactly what I did yesterday.

When we’d entered the store the first time, the snootiness was almost palpable. The man who took our information, while speaking politely enough, seem to look down on us with disdain; I couldn’t get over it. Yesterday’s experience was no different, even though it was a woman this time. She was even haughty before she knew why I was there. I was pleased to have my watch back in my possession, with the knowledge that I would never walk through their doors again.

When I got back to Fort Worth, it was close to noon, so I parked in the office parking garage and walked down the street to meet Kevin at a favorite little lunch spot. I told him about the experience, and he said that he’d stopped into another jeweler, right there in Sundance Square, and talked to them about the watch. So, after lunch, with the watch right there in my purse, we walked over there to let them have a look.

The Square is under crazy construction right now, and this jeweler is basically surrounded by it, not only on the outside, but internally, as they are expanding their own space. It was noisy, and I thought to myself how hard it must be to concentrate and make it through the day without a headache. Yet when we walked in, a lovely young woman greeted us at the door, her smile radiant as though she’d been waiting just for us.

She introduced herself to me, after greeting Kevin by name, and then asked me if I was excited about our upcoming trip. Noticing my surprise, she smiled with a little twinkle in her eye and said, “Your husband is excited about it, too.” She took my watch, and carefully listened to our concerns, never breaking eye contact, even though it seemed like we were in a war zone. We both felt like we were the most important clients she had.

There are a lot of people who seem to view God as a haughty judge who looks down on His subjects with disdain. Maybe it’s because they had a difficult relationship with their own father and never felt they measured up, or maybe it’s because they were taught from a more “hell-fire and brimstone” approach. Regardless, they don’t often try to have a relationship with Him because they feel that if they approach Him, they’ll be made to feel small and unworthy because of who they are, what they’ve done, and what is going on in their lives.

What they don’t understand is that who we are and what’s going on, even if it’s crazy chaos and feels like a war zone, has no bearing on whether or not we can approach God. He’s waiting for us, and welcoming us, no matter the situation…maybe even because of it. His attention never breaks; His eye is never off of us for a single second because we are the most important people in the world to Him. Collectively, certainly, but individually, too.

If you have something in your life that needs to be fixed, you can take it to Him with confidence. He’s waiting just for you, and I promise you’ll be so satisfied, you’ll go back again and again.

“God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8 NLT

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 NLT

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you…” James 4:8 NLT