And the Angel of the Lord continued, See now, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael [God hears], because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your affliction. – Genesis 16:11, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Jennifer Unagnst grew up in a home filled with darkness and fear. After years of being sexually abused by her father, she turned to drug addiction in order to numb her emotional pain. According to CBN.com:

She lived in her car and sold her body for drugs. Jennifer says she stayed high for weeks at a time. “There were times where when I would come down off the drugs, I would sleep for days and eat, but I would cry uncontrollably, just my emotions took over. And then I would walk around outside and walk up and down the streets, just praying that somebody would stop, pull over and help me.” No one stopped. She says she felt trapped and hopeless…

In and out of destructive relationships, Jennifer once came very close to committing suicide. But then:

For Jennifer, hope came when she reconciled with her mom who had become a Christian. Her mother told her about Bethany House, a Christian home for girls on the street. Desperate for help, she went to the home. “I could see the light inside the house. The minute I walked in it was almost like a swoosh of darkness that had left. I could see the Holy Spirit on everyone’s face. I felt the love. It was unconditional. It was pure. It was holy. I had never felt anything like that in my life. It was going from hell into heaven in a sense…” The next day, Jennifer became a Christian. “What it meant for me to give my life to Christ was that I would no longer have to live in darkness. And I would no longer have to be abused. And that I finally found the love that I had always looked for in my life. It was everything I’d been searching for since a child. Jesus is my heavenly Father. And He’ll always be my protector and He’ll always be my hero.”

Just like when no one heard Jennifer’s cries but God, no one heard Hagar’s cries but the Creator. Harshly rebuked by her mistress, Sarai, Hagar ran away to escape the pain of her reproach. But, in her time of great distress, God sought Hagar out, letting her know that He knew of her affliction, and even giving her a son by the name of Ishmael, which means “God hears.”

When we hurt, it can seem like no one cares. But, God cares, and He hears our cries for help even if no one else does. Sadly, we tend to run in every direction but God’s when tough times come. Thankfully, though, God is faithful to run towards us even when we don’t have the sense to run towards Him!