Do Not Fear Little Lambs

Fear. Ever been struck with fear? It's happened to me a couple times within the last twenty four hours. Yesterday we went to the lake in Culver, Indiana with our family. Our daughter, Lauri and her husband, Elton have a speed boat so they like to spend Saturdays on the lake with their kids. They invited my husband and me and also our other daughter, Kendra and her husband Craig. We took Isaiah, our eleven year old grandson along as well. It was a 90 degree plus day, a very good day to sit at the edge of the water. We took a picnic lunch and sat under the shade of big oak trees in the park. A delightful day, eating together, visiting together and playing together. Because my husband and I had a graduation open house invitation to attend later in the afternoon, we left the lake about 2:30, taking our fourteen year old grandaughter and our youngest daughter and husband with us. That left Lauri and Elton, three of their children and Isaiah to spend the rest of the afternoon doing all the things they do in the water and behind the boat. The plan was to all eat dinner together and the menu had been planned. Nothing big because we were all out playing and had no time to prepare. Ken and I went to the open house and came home around six oclock. We called over to Lauri and Elton's and their daughter said the family hadn't returned home yet and that she had called both of their cell phones a dozen times and got a very strange reaction but no connection. The fact that they weren't home surprised us because they had given no indication they would be late for dinner. Every fifteen minutes, we tried to call the cell phones and got what their daugher had gotten. Absolutely nothing. Obviously, the tension began to mount and we could sense the fear in their daugher's voice each time we spoke with her. At 7:00, we decided to go to their home and spend the fearful wait with Alexandra. We began to prepare for dinner hoping they would arrive soon. By this time, everyone was getting on edge with worry. Finally, it was being considered to have Ken and our son-in-law drive back to the lake (about an hours ride) and see if they could find them on the way or at the lake. Just as they were thinking about getting out of their chairs to leave, the Durango with the boat attached pulled into the driveway. When one could see that they were well, our grandaughter said, "Let's all glare at them!". I said we should not do that until we had heard their story. Our daughter came up the drive with her tail between her legs and an apologetic look. The story was two fold. They played on the lake a bit longer than they had planned and then a storm came up. They headed for the dock only to find that many other boaters were in line to pull their boats out of the water as well. It took them an hour to get their boat out. The next question was why we couldn't get them on their phones or why hadn't they called? Lauri pulled out her phone and showed us that it had gotten all wet in the boat and wouldn't work. Elton had forgotten his phone at home and that explained our not being about to reach him.

Once they were safely in the house, that feeling of relief came over me. I felt like I wanted to cry. My cry would have been one of thanksgiving. I'm grateful they weren't other kinds of tears.

The second time I had fear strike was at 3:45 this morning while I was lying in bed sleeping . The phone on the table next to our bed rang once. I poked Ken and said, "Get the phone". He lifted it, said "hello" and didn't get a reply so hung it up. We turned to go back to sleep and it rang again. Again there was no answer. It began to grate at me. Who was trying to get us and why weren't they able to make connection and and and and and and? As I've mentioned in another blog, phone calls during the night don't often bring good news. The only way my spirit found relief was to pray. After asking God to dispatch His angels to whomever was in need, I felt relief. I slept again and we weren't disrupted after that. It may have been a wrong number but it certainly struck fear in me. I'm so grateful that God never slumbers nor sleeps and watches over me and those whom I love during the long hours of darkness. I woke the next time and was delighted to see that it was four thirty, the birds were already singing and my heart sang with them in thanksgiving for the end of an interrupted night and for the new mercies He promises to deliver every morning.

I am reminded today that God's Word repeats over and over, "Do Not Fear!. Trust.