Have you seen the movie The Princess Diaries? Mia is a princess, but at the beginning of the movie she doesn’t know it. Someone actually sits on her, and she tells her friend, “Somebody sat on me again.” In another part of the movie, she said, “My expectation in life is to be invisible and I’m good at it.”

Most likely we have all felt this way at one time or other. It is a lie the devil tells a lot of people. We can feel very small and insignificant. I felt invisible in middle school. I could very well have said, “My expectation in life is to be invisible and I’m good at it.”

I could have felt that way about God, that I was invisible to Him, but God had other plans for me. He saw me, really saw me, and He called me, and saved me. God always sees us. We are never invisible to Him.

When I was quite young, Granny took us into a store and noticed some half-slips (the skirt part of a woman’s slip worn for modesty under thin dresses) made out of cotton that had little purple flowers on them. Granny bought several of those slips and made me the cutest little dress from the fabric. She saw so much more in the slips than just slips.

Granny could see brilliant possibilities from the ordinary. Her creativity seemed boundless. She made a dress from cotton half-slips. God can do so much more with a sinner. He sees brilliant possibilities in every sinner. His creativity is truly boundless.

It didn’t matter to God that I felt invisible or that I thought my life would never make a difference in this world. God saw differently, and He saved me and called me.

Your story may be quite different, but whatever your story, if God saved you, it was from a life of sin. It didn’t matter what you did. It didn’t matter where you were. It didn’t matter how far away from Him you were. It didn’t matter. He still saved you.

The same is true for prodigals. Whatever their stories, God can save them, call them, and give them a purpose and hope for eternal life.

No one is ever too far gone to be saved and no one is ever too invisible to be beyond calling and purpose.

Never give up praying for your prodigal. God knows where he/she is, has a purpose for him/her, and can save him/her.

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
² You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
³ You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
⁵ You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

^{7 “}Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸ If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’
Even the night shall be light about me;
¹² Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psalm 139:1-12 NKJV).

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (1 Peter 3:9).

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says, the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).