Sometimes I wonder how much of our lives we spend waiting for someone else to notice us.

Not because we need applause, but because we want to know that what we’re doing matters.

That we’re appreciated.

That we’re enough.

I’ve found myself in seasons where life has changed in ways I never expected. Seasons where I’ve questioned what God was doing and wondered if I was headed in the right direction. It’s easy in those moments to start looking around for reassurance instead of looking up.

Leah did something similar.

As she named her first three sons, you can almost hear her heart.

“Maybe now my husband will love me.”

“Maybe now he’ll become attached to me.”

Each child carried the hope that this time things would be different.

Then she had Judah.

And instead of talking about Jacob, she simply said,

“This time I will praise the Lord.”

Those words stopped me.

Her circumstances hadn’t changed.

Jacob hadn’t suddenly become the husband she longed for.

But something inside of Leah had.

She shifted her focus from what she couldn’t control to the God who had been with her all along.

The more I studied her story, the more I realized something else.

Leah spent years trying to earn something from Jacob that God had already given her.

Not his love…

But her worth.

She didn’t know it yet, but God had already chosen her for something far bigger than she could imagine.

The family line of Jesus wouldn’t come through Rachel.

It would come through Leah.

That doesn’t erase her pain.

It doesn’t make the rejection hurt any less.

But it reminds me that God’s purpose for our lives isn’t determined by whether other people recognize our value.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for someone to notice your effort.

To appreciate your heart.

To choose you.

I don’t know what that looks like for you.

But I do know this:

Before anyone else saw Leah…

God did.

And before anyone else sees you…

He already does.

Maybe the peace we’re looking for doesn’t come when people finally choose us.

Maybe it comes when we truly believe that God already has. 🤍