A Brewing Storm

Dear God: We need a miracle.

These are the words I silently prayed as the Sunday worship service began. My cell phone was on vibrate and in my front right pocket. I looked at the empty seat beside me and thought, "the storm is brewing. Here it comes. God, please help us."

Things were tense as my husband and I were getting ourselves and the children ready for church that morning. We had had a communication mishap-- a trip had been planned to visit his grandparents on the same weekend I am scheduled to help host a bridal shower for my younger cousin. His grandparents are in their late 80's and in ill health. His grandmother suffers from dementia and his grandfather was recently released from the hospital with heart problems. Part of me fears this might be our last trip where his grandmother completely remembers who we are and his grandfather is in good enough health to read with his great-grandchildren in their favorite chair. We have had my cousin's bridal shower planned for months. My husband is an usher. I am a hostess. We are two of ten people expected to be in attendance. We cannot miss it.

Neither of us were fully at fault. I had thought the trip was planned for the following weekend, he had not realized the shower had been already scheduled. But we were both clearly at fault failing to listen to each other fully. I know we had discussed the shower and he is absolutely certain that I had given the OK to plan the trip for that weekend.

We had managed to shuffle that issue to be discussed after church with little or no arguing. The boys were ready to go, my husband and I dressed, the nursery bag packed. My husband and the boys piled into the car as I hopelessly searched for our one year old's missing shoe. I finally found it and made it to the car with five minutes until service time. We couldn't find the garage door opener, so my husband hit the button by hand and ran out under the door before it closed. Whew, we were ready to go. Finally.

As we turned the corner to church, a thought occurred to me. We had recently installed a lock on the top of our front door, to keep our too-smart-for-child-proof-doorknobs nearly three year old from escaping during the night. I had not unlocked the door. Neither had my husband. We were locked out of our home.

My husband dropped the boys and I off at church and left to try to find some way back into our home. This is when I found myself alone and praying that God would provide a way. I knew this would not be the relaxing Sunday at home we needed without His help. We needed a miracle to keep the stress and tension that had been building all morning from boiling over into a heated mess.

I felt a peace come over me. I felt Him say to me:

Remember last week when you twisted your ankle and pitched your one year old across the lawn like a little football? Remember how he landed on his head and you were scared beyond belief? What about when you didn't see the SUV sneaking through that line of cars and you thought your car was going to be pushed into oncoming traffic? And that kidney infection you were inflicted with after failing to heed the warning of a simple UTI by going to the doctor for an antibiotic? Remember the peace I gave you? I can handle a simple lock. And scheduling complications? You may sense a huge storm brewing, but give these to me and I will take care of it. Love will find a way. I always do.

My husband returned a few moments later. Last week the lock had broken on our back fence. So, while the fence was secured shut, the key was not needed to gain access to the backyard. The screen door on our back door that we always keep locked and that doesn't have an exterior key hole (another attempt to keep our child from escaping) wasn't locked. He used the house key to unlock the dead bolt on the back door and had gained access to the house very easily.

And those scheduling complications? After a few minutes of discussion, we realized the shower wasn't until the Sunday we were planning to return. Leaving a mere four hours earlier than planned will have us home in plenty of time to host the shower and we'll be able to visit with his grandparents as planned.

A storm? Nope. Not even a little sprinkle.

Thank you God for teaching me how to rely on you and receive your peace during times of trouble. You are the calm during the storm, my rock, my only hope. Might I learn to rely on you completely and feel your calm presence every moment of every day for all of my days.

Love,