Thanks for joining us for today's encouragement from the Our Daily Bread Devotional.

Our reading is titled All Alone, and it was written by Anne Cetus.

Sue's family was falling apart before her eyes.

Her husband had suddenly left the home, and she and her children were confused and angry. She asked him to go for marriage counseling

with her, but he wouldn't because he claimed the problems were hers. Panic and hopelessness

set in when she realized he might never come back.

Would she be able to care for herself and her children alone?

Hagar, a servant of Abraham and Sarah, faced those thoughts as well.

Impatient for God to give them a son as promised, Sarah gave Hagar to her husband, and Hager gave birth to Ishmael.

However, when God fulfilled his promise and Sarah gave birth to Isaac, family tensions erupted

such that Abraham sent Hagar away with her son Ishmael with just some water and food.

Can you imagine her desperation? Soon they ran out of

provisions in the desert. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to see her son die,

Hagar put Ishmael under a bush and walked a distance away. They both began to sob.

But God heard the boy crying.

He heard their cries, provided for their needs, and was with them.

Times of desperation when we feel all alone cause us to cry out to God.

What a comfort to know that during those moments and throughout our lives,

he hears us, provides for us, and stays near to us.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Genesis, Chapter 21, verses 9 through 19.

But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar, the Egyptian, had born to Abraham, was mocking, and she said to Abraham,

get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman's son will never share in the inheritance

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