It was a while ago now that I got the phone call no one ever wants to get. A dear friend of my mine was having some severe complications from a miscarriage. I did not know the extent of the troubles until I arrived at her house and realized that they wanted me to stay with their children and the ambulance was on its way.
I helped as much as I could, I started to pray when I heard my friend had gone unconscious and was losing a ridiculous amount of blood. I basically let the Emergency crew do their job and waited till they left with my friend and her husband.
Once they left, I was trying to grasp the seriousness of the whole ordeal and that is when I remembered that there would be a few terrified children in their rooms waiting for answers. I crawled into the girls room and that is when I got the question. With tears rolling down her cheeks, my darling niece asked “Aunty Gen, is mom going to be ok?”
Truth is the only way
This is possibly one of the most difficult questions you can answer a child. Especially when it doesn’t look good and seeing at how my friend left and what was going on I seriously didn’t have a clue.
Yes, her mother knows Jesus and is saved and she will be fine no matter what happens, but in that moment this child wants to be reassured that their mom is coming home tomorrow.
What do you do when you don’t know? I did the first thing that came to mind and I gathered all the children into one place and told them the truth. I hugged each one of them and reassured them that their mom was in great hands but more importantly that God is sovereign and He knows what is best and no matter what happens we know that God has her and us in the palm of His hands and that we will be ok.
Then we did the only thing we could do to help their mom and us, that was to pray. While their mom is being rushed to the hospital we bent our heads and prayed.
We prayed that God would give wisdom to the emergency crew, that the right doctor would be able to help, we prayed for mom’s healing and then I prayed for the peace of God described in Philippians 4:7 ‘that the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ for the children.
The moment the peace of the Lord fell.
What happened next was incredible. Words cannot explain it justly. The Lords peace fell on that house, on each one of us in almost a tangible way. And we began to praise God, laugh, tell stories and knew that no matter what the outcome was God was with us. Had someone walked in they would have thought it was a normal day which is so amazing. All the kids were able to go to bed and were fall asleep quickly and without fear.
As someone who struggles with worry, I was so amazed that the peace of the Lord was so clear that I actually fell asleep and had a good night sleep as I put my trust into the Lord’s hands. My friend did recover from her ordeal and is happily home with her children now.
Lean not on your understanding.
The truth is that every day people are faced with trails in life whether it be financial, emotional, or physical and as believers we are commanded not to worry. God doesn’t just tell us not to worry and leaves it at that, He provides His peace for us during our trials and tribulations. We are not to be like the world and griped in fear and anxiety but rather we can have His peace and abide in it.
The best way to get the peace of the Lord is to stay in His Word. Learn it now so that when the trials come we know it and can speak it out. Recently I had a health scare and it had the potential to be very life altering, I found myself in the Word. Even as I waited for scans and doctor report I was thick in the Pslams.
Seeing how God was with David and how he was with me. We need to run to God when we have difficult situations that are far bigger than us and even if the prognosis does not look good. Our God is a mighty God who is working out His plan for the glory of His name. We have a hope and we have something to help others with. How amazing it that we do not have to go through our trials alone but we have a loving God who leads us through them and who grants us His peace.
Genevieve Wilson is a happily married stay at home, home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She is a seminary wife to her amazing husband and has worked 8 years as a missionary with Youth with a Mission (YWAM). She has a heart for justice.