The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. ~ Psalm 18:2
I remember when my oldest daughter was little, about 11 months old, my husband and his friend were playing volleyball in a tournament at the beach. I had was there with our girl watching them, and she was eating cheerios. They were on a break in between games, and my daughter had spilled her cheerios in the sand. I didn’t want her to continue eating them, so I scooped them up to go throw them out. I said to my husband “I’ll be right back, I’m throwing these out.” The implied part was – “You’re watching, Gabby – OK?”
He looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed our young daughter got up to follow me. I didn’t know that she was, and he assumed that I was taking her with me, so he turned to his friend to continue their conversation.
I went up on the boardwalk, threw out the cheerios and headed back to our blanket. I see my husband, his friend – but no Gabby.
Alarmed, I asked my husband “Where is Gabby??” He said “I thought she was going with you.” I said “I told you I’d be right back!”
We stopped the back and forth as fear began to take hold. Where is she?
What happened next was one of the most frightening 15 minutes of my life. The three of us scanned the whole beach around us. She was nowhere. My friend said he was going to check by the water. My husband was going to look on the beach, and I went up on the boardwalk, fearing that maybe she headed out to the road.
Every minute that past was worse than the last. “Where is she? Where is she?” Through tears, I began praying, “God, please help me find her.”
As I was looking all over, through my tear-filled eyes – my eyes met another little set of eyes off in the distance. My little girl had found a seat for herself on the front porch of a beach house and was watching me the whole time I was looking for her. Overjoyed, I ran to the house and picked her up to hug her. The worst fear of my life melted away as relief and joy washed over me.
My husband and I learned an important lesson that day – always, always ask the question: “I’m going to do _____. YOU’RE WATCHING THE KIDS, OKAY?”
My other big take away from that day had to do with fear itself. Fear is born from a place of not feeling like you are in control.
I think one of the most important things we can learn to do in our lives is to let God be in control. You are loved by God, more than you can imagine. This is the truth! Think of Jesus’ story of the prodigal son – as Jesus described God’s love for each of us.
We are in the middle of a very challenging time, where is seems like we are loosing control of things we took for granted. God is calling us now to let Him be in control of our lives and trust in His timing. God will see us through, and God will strengthen us now.
Amen.
~ Pastor Denise
