Last week, I had a very unique experience with my girls. We were walking to the Family Center to check out new toys, and the girls were on their scooters. It was time to cross one of the busier roads (busy meaning cars actually use it, not meaning LOTS of cars use it...), so I had Katie get off her scooter so she could walk across the road. She got so excited that she darted across the road without waiting for Mommy or Anna.
There was a truck coming. It was far enough away that I knew it was safe to cross- even though normally I don't let my kids cross with cars in view. As we went across to catch up to Katie, Anna tripped and fell.
As she hit the ground, she began screaming. She knew that truck was coming and thought sure it was going to hit her. By the time Anna hit the ground, Katie had already made it to the sidewalk on the other side. The truck that was coming- still far enough away that even with no action on the driver's part we would be safe- slowed down and then stopped. I picked Anna and her scooter up and got her to the other side of the road.
I comforted her as much as possible, but she was really shaken. She had a cut on her knee, too. We got to the Family Center, got her a bandaid, and let her calm down. She seemed fine for the most part the rest of the day, but as she was heading to bed that night, she told me how scared she'd been when she fell. She told me she thought the car was going to hit her. I assured her that I had been making sure she was safe, but that it was good that she had known the car was there.
This really hit me. Originally it hit me because of the trauma it caused Anna. She was never in any real danger, but she THOUGHT she was. I babied her all day, trying to help her feel better. As I thought about this experience, it made me wonder how often we are like Anna falling in the road. How often do we think we are in the middle of an unsolvable situation when we aren't? I remember times when I have hit times that were hard. I didn't see an end, didn't know how I would get by. I would pray with all my heart, begging for help. In time, things would get better on their own. I wonder how often the Lord smiles, picks us up, carries us to the other side of the road, and then just lets time fix things?
When Anna fell in the road, I could clearly see she was going to be fine. If she had been in danger, I'd have acted much faster and much differently. But from her perspective, she was in serious danger and didn't see a way she wouldn't get hurt. In life, we often think we are in bad situations and see no way out of them. But the Lord can see farther than we can. Sometimes when we pray, He lets us wait it out. He never ignores our prayers- He simply sees more than we do and knows that we are going to be fine if we will just let time pass.
Just a thought.
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