There will always be that secret part of you, that part that others may never know. Your friends may spend years in your company and not learn about it. Your parents may hardly have a clue. Even your most intimate loved one may have no idea that it exists. But it does. It exists somewhere deep within you. That hidden part that no one sees.
Have you ever experienced people suddenly being surprised about you? Once in a while, someone says you’ve changed a lot, and another comments you did something quite unexpected of you. But you weren’t surprised at all. You know that you’ve always been that person capable of doing such a thing. They just didn’t know you’ve got it in you all along.
There’s a whole universe within each person that cannot be entirely known by another. And though once in a while, someone may have more glimpses into your inner world, you know that there is so much more that hasn’t been revealed.
Sometimes it feels good because it helps you see just how wonderfully you have been made. You know that you’re not someone who can just be tagged into stereotypes. Your inner being is so vast that it can never be measured by anyone.
Sometimes, however, it can feel lonely, too. You want others to know you more. And you don’t want to be judged by the few moments they have seen you.
But that’s just what happens every now and then. When people talk about you as though they know you but you know that they don’t. When people cast you away because they think they have already measured your heart and soul.
It hurts even more when it comes from the people who are closest to you. Why couldn’t they possibly understand? How could they say such things?
Ah, but that’s just how it is. No person could ever know you as well as you know yourself. And you could never know yourself as much as God knows you.
We were not meant to always be alone and misunderstood. There is One who sees us, One who knows us. He looks at us and loves us for who we truly are. And one day, if you do not lose faith, you also will know how He sees you. He will give you a new name, and you will understand just how much you are known and loved.
“Even among the sisters you will feel lonely. Know then that I want you to unite yourself more closely to Me. I am concerned about every beat of your heart. Every stirring of your love is reflected in My Heart. I thirst for your love. ‘Yes, O Jesus, but my heart would not be able to live without You, either; for even if the hearts of all creatures were offered to me, they would not satisfy the depths of my heart.’” – Divine Mercy In My Soul, 1542
“To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows but he who receives it.” – Revelation 2:17, WEBBE
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"