I have loved the ocean since I was a young child. The more turbulent the waves the greater the wonder. As a child I played in their surging wake for untold hours until sunburnt and spent my mother would call me in. But I never loved the sand. In my eyes the beach was nothing more than a messy hot span that lay between me and the water. I hated how its rough grains found their way into everything and everywhere. I am still not a fan of sand, but I’ve grown to appreciate what these broken crystals represent.

Not long ago our large family went to the beach. This time I did not venture into the water, I lingered on the sandy shore. I watched one of my granddaughters wrestle with upending a pail of sand in an attempt to create a perfect tower and pondered the words of King David. 

“Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.”

Psalm 139:17-18 TPT

Imagine a grain of sand as a single moment. Then dare to embrace the awe-inspiring concept that each of these grains represents one of your Heavenly Father’s thoughts towards you. This may be hard to believe, but it’s true. The God Most High treasures ideas about you that are so rare, beautiful and innumerable that they are outside the boundaries of human comprehension. And just like sand you can find evidence of His fierce love for you everywhere you look in creation. It is tragic that most of us feel fiercely judged rather than fiercely loved. To counter this here is a sampling of what might He be thinking about you:

Thoughts of love.

Thoughts of joy.

Thoughts of peace.

Thoughts of grace.

Thoughts of mercy.

Thoughts of creativity.

Thoughts of goodness.

Thoughts of care.

Thoughts of restoration and rescue.

And this is a very limited list drawn from my flawed human perspective. The wonder of it all doesn’t stop there because not only are his thoughts precious; they are vast. I would imagine them to be innumerable. David likens the task of numbering God’s thoughts to the impossibility of counting grains of sand. His thoughts are impossible to count and as constant as his love. Fiercely loved one, you have always been in his thoughts, and just as surely as he is thinking of you this very moment rest assured that you will always be on his mind.

And yet it is almost impossible for us to imagine that we are seen this way. We harbor thoughts that are the very antithesis of how God has said he sees us. I was raised to believe in a distant deity that I constantly disappointed. When we read the words of David’s there is something that surprises; we hear wonder. Somehow David pushed past guilt and shame and reveled in the wild truth of a God that actually treasured him. This awareness is reflected in the following psalm.

“Look at the splendor of your skies, your creative genius glowing in the heavens. When I gaze at your moon and your stars, mounted like jewels in their settings, I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all!

But I have to ask this question: Why would you bother with puny, mortal man or care about human beings?”

Psalm 8:3-4 TPT

Alone in the wilderness, David had come to know the Most High as an intimate friend and confidant, someone who loved him and loved being with him. While beholding the wonder of creation, David pondered why God would take notice of him. Perhaps you have walked the ocean’s shore, lifted your gaze to the stars or scaled a mountain and wondered the same. Does God care? Am I seen? Do I dare to dream? The answer to all of this is a resounding, yes! God’s thoughts are always about his largeness towards us, rather than our smallness. Brave fiercely loved one our Father has never been disappointed by the thought of you.

You are his idea.

He created you.

He loves you.

Will you dare to whisper it?

My Father’s thoughts toward me are constant, innumerable and wildly wonderful.

I dare you to embrace the wonder of this awareness. You are treasured, remembered, welcomed, wanted and encouraged! Never again imagine that your heavenly Father is watching for you to fail so that he can abandon you. Allow this revelation of his constant love to infuse every aspect of your life with hope!

Lisa Bevere is a New York Times Bestselling author and an internationally known speaker who has spent more than three decades empowering women of all ages to find their identity and purpose. This article was adapted from Lisa Bevere’s newest book, Fiercely Loved: God’s Wild Thoughts about You, published by Revell Books.