A Matter of Perspective

It’s weird how things sometimes work out . . .

I think we have all had moments when we weren’t exactly sure why we were doing something. I am also sure that most of us have had times when we felt like our prayers fell on deaf ears.

I had one of those moments on Sunday, May 30.

I was feeling like I needed to pray for my parents. So, I did. I remember the prayer distinctly. I said, “God, please take care of my mom and dad.”

It was less than 10 minutes later when I got what I thought was the answer to my prayer.

My cousin Kathleen sent us messages saying that the Clarissa Rescue and Browerville Ambulance were at my mom and dad’s house.

We quickly jumped into the car and within moments we were at my parent’s home. We were in time to see them help my mom up and get her on the stretcher to be taken to the Emergency Room.

Mom had fallen.

I am not going to lie to you. My very first thought was, “Thanks a lot, God,” in as sarcastic a voice as my brain could muster.

It’s a really good thing that God is slow to anger. He would be mad at me all the time!

But I just couldn’t get over the thought that He had let me down. I couldn’t get over the thought that He had done nothing to “take care” of my parents!

We spent the day in the Emergency Room waiting to find out if there was damage. It looked like there was. My mom had a good-sized knot on her forehead along with bruising down her left side from her knee to the top of her head.

I was hesitant to do any more praying. I thought that if this was how God was going to “take care of my mom,” I best not ask Him for any more “favors.”

Much to our surprise, after about seven hours in the ER, they sent mom home with dad and me.

The next day mom’s bruising was worse on her face. The following day nearly her entire face was black and blue! She said she didn’t even recognize herself! She had no fractures or anything in her head area so we waited anxiously for her follow-up appointment to see what her regular doctor would say.

In the meantime, I had told someone about my prayer and I learned a little lesson.

The person I talked to said that indeed God had answered my prayer.

I was like, “What? Are you crazy? How was my mom falling and getting hurt an answer to my prayer?”

It was explained to me that because I had pulled back from my job a bit I was able to “take care of my mom.”

I let that sink in a bit. It wasn’t what I had thought I had been praying for, but it was the answer God wanted me to accept. He had laid it upon my heart to spend less time working so that I could spend more time with family.

Well, I was going to be able to spend more time with my mom. God’s answer to taking care of my mom and dad was for me to do all I could to take care of them!

It makes sense and I apologized for getting angry about what I saw as a lack of concern.

Sometimes we just have to take a moment to think before we start accusing God of not taking care of us or of not hearing our prayers. He does hear them and He does answer them—just not always the way we think He should.

His way is far better than what I would have planned, though.

For this, I am grateful.