Spirit & Soul

Three weeks is much too long for a three-year-old boy to be confined to a hospital bed. Every time the door opened, he’d wail, fearing what might happen next. 

Our yearly trip back home to celebrate Christmas and spend time with family quickly turned deadly. After listening to my son’s chest, a triage nurse loaded us into an ambulance bound for Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. My son’s pediatrician had assured me the rash was nothing more than our laundry soap, but all along, a deadly virus festered. Fluid filled his lungs, causing his left lung to collapse. He needed emergency surgery.

Pictures of the Grinch stealing the Whos’ Christmas decorated every wall and window of the children’s hospital. I couldn’t help but agree that he’d stolen ours too. We pulled our son down the hall in a wagon because he was too frail to walk.

Then a memory rushed back, a Christmas tree perched on top of a high building—this building!

“Look, Mama.” He pointed. “Up there.”

“That’s the children’s hospital.”

“You mean children stay there even at—” His eyes widened. “Christmas?”

I nodded.

“Let’s pray for them, okay, Mama?”

While we drove down I-285 all those days ago, we unknowingly prayed for ourselves.

Additionally, a new pediatrician did the nightly rounds, and we worried this would worsen the situation.

“God, will you send someone to comfort my son?”

A familiar voice and a very familiar face greeted us when the door opened. I’ve always heard everyone has a twin somewhere in the world, and this doctor’s twin lived back home in Arkansas and attended our church. Our son called her “Mrs. Stephanie” and cheerfully took whatever medicine she prescribed. When we returned home three weeks later, I hugged the real Stephanie and thanked her. God used her to help a sickly little boy recover from the brink of death, and she’d never even left the state.

God sees and guides our steps, even when those steps lead us into a children’s hospital. On our darkest nights, His light shines brighter than the Christmas tree, illuminating the city below.

Think of someone you can pray for this Christmas season. 

In the summer of 2022, my family and I spent the week at a wonderful little Bible camp nestled in the woods of Northern Maine. I loved it because my kids thought they had won a great deal, going to a “restaurant” (really just a cafeteria, but the wonderful ladies who worked there never forced a single vegetable onto their plate) for every meal. They also had an easily accessible playground and designated pool time every day.

My kids love to swim, yet my youngest son—three at the time—had a bit of trepidation about the water when he realized how deep it was. He was content to sit on the top step and barely get wet. However, when Mumma got in and picked him up, he was so happy to get into the deeper water. The water surrounding him was still as deep as before, but in my arms, he had no fear. He knew I had him. The water couldn’t hurt him if he held on tight.

God also doesn’t want us sitting on the steps of the shallow end. We see everything happening in life’s pool but are content to sit in the safe zone. Just as I wanted more for my son, God wants more for us. He wants to take us in His arms and take us deeper. The stuff will still surround us, but it will not affect us because the one who can part seas and calm raging waters holds us.

Think of things in your life that have you sitting on the top step—things you stress and worry over and things that keep you from enjoying all the good things God has for you. Then, let God take you into the deep waters.

My sister had been married for thirty-one years when her husband left. Sin got in the way of their relationship.

But sin doesn’t just do this with marital relationships. It also works with other relationships. Every job I have taken has had problems. One person disliked me because I broke a piece of equipment, and he did not like the way I did things. Another hated me. One of my assistants thought he was too good to do certain tasks, so he called in sick to get out of doing things he didn’t want to do.

We are all subject to evil and foolish thoughts. Of course, I was not an angel in any of those situations. Sin constantly plagues us.

Solomon said, “After that, they join the dead.” He knew that people who didn’t know Jesus would go to the lake of fire someday.

But there is good news. We don’t have to join the dead. If we trust Jesus as our Savior, we can join the living and have eternal life. No sin exists when we go to heaven. Nor will there be broken relationships or evil thoughts.

Will you turn to Jesus today? 

“Happy Thanksgiving. Look at the snow!” A little girl held her tongue out, trying to catch drops of new-falling snow.

“Be thankful for what?” An elderly man held fast to the park bench where he sat. He pulled his arms tightly around his chest and wadded his coat against his neck. “Ain’t nothin’ I can see to be thankful for,” he grumbled.

The girl smiled and held out her hands to catch a few snowflakes. “It’s Thanksgiving. Be thankful.” She spun in a circle, tripped, and fell into the old man.

“Watch it!” the old man growled as he lifted a foot to help the child stand.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall on you. But thank you. See, I have something to be thankful for. Y.O.U.” The child pressed her hand against the man’s cheek. “Y.O.U.” She smiled, then bounded off to play.

The man touched his fingers to his cheek, still feeling the warmth of the child’s touch. His heart filled, and he found himself brushing away a tear. It took the touch and acknowledgment of a child to remind him that he was cared for. He suddenly recognized what the child had done. She’d given him reason to be thankful. And he was.

The writer of the Psalms understood thankfulness. He could see all that God had done and continued to do for him from the beauty of the earth to the blessings of provision, and he offered his thankfulness to God. “I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” He honored God through his thankfulness, giving full credit to the Father for everything in his life.

Reach out to those around you. Recount the blessings you may have ignored or overlooked, and then be grateful. Our God is a loving God who cares deeply for His children. Praise His name. Be thankful. Magnify Him with thanksgiving for He is worthy of it all.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with the warmth and love of the Father.

Once, my hair was golden. It shone like the sun. Honey-colored locks that told me life was far from done.

Now, the mirror says otherwise, and mirrors do not lie. My snow-white locks murmur, “Before long, you shall lie among dear friends and family who have passed on long before. So, get ready now. Soon, you too shall pass through that door.”

At some point, we all find ourselves in a gloomy mood, especially as fall comes and we watch the summer flowers wither. When this happens, I tell myself two things: I have no idea when the Lord will call me home. I only know that, in Christ, I will be with Him and filled with joy. I also tell myself to read on to verse 17 of the psalm: “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.”

That’s the part I must remember when those gloomy moments threaten to swallow me. God’s love is always with me. It always has been and always will be. We need verses to go to when the reality that we aren’t on this earth forever comes to mind.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll take a walk and pick up the prettiest fall leaf I can find. I know just where I will press it into my Bible.

Let the truths of God’s Word assure you of a better future.