Make the Call

The other night, my daughter had a nightmare. This child has never experienced such things before, so quite frankly, I thought it was an attempt to stay up past her bedtime. She had only been upstairs a few short minutes. As a mother who doesn't like to be duped, I condescendingly calmed her and sent her back to bed, but she didn't even make it up the stairs before she came back down sobbing. HMMMM- there must be something to this. At first, she claimed she couldn't remember what the nightmare was about, but then admitted that she feared being in the semi truck with her Grampy , far from home and that he passed out and she didn't know what to do.

I calmly explained what the drill would be: call 911 on his cell phone, and then phone home where we would talk to her until the emergency personnel arrived. I hugged her, consoled her and assured her that it would never happen. I understood her concern, as my father is 64 years old, and one must realistically think about these things, but know its a lot for a 10 year old to deal with...so I lied and told her that it wouldn't ever happen.

Then I remembered....when visiting her father (almost exactly one year ago), her Great Uncle had a heart attack and died right before her eyes. She saw her Dad for the first time in his life panic and cry. She saw his helplessness as he tried to move Uncle Bill and revive him. She witnessed a horror no child should have to. At the time, she seemed to handle it all well. There were tears, but we talked it through, and not much was said in the following months.

So it HAD happened. She knew I had lied. She knew that despite my words, tragedy COULD befall her situation and she might have to deal with something like that all by herself. I had misled her.

Apparently the anniversary of this experience was weighing on her mind.What a burden to have such fear. The next morning, we sat quietly on the couch and talked things through. I confessed my lie. I assured her that even if it DID happen again, and she was by herself, things would be alright if she gave it to God.

Blessed assurance....God doesn't promise us that nothing bad will happen. He doesn't lie to us and say our lives will be without trouble, but He DOES assure us that He will be here for us to lean on , talk to and come to for guidance and help, much as the cell phone would connect my daughter to the loving, reassuring voice of her family as she would wait for emergency services to arrive. There is comfort in the presence of God, even when hard times come....we just need to make the call.