A miracle in my own backyard

Bringing faith to life.
God can bring it to life for you.
Just ask him to make himself real.
To show himself to you.
He will.
I promise.

  God continues to use this story over and over again in my life as he tirelessly and lovingly mends an area in my life which most cripples me ...
unrelenting fear.

I feel as though words failed me as there is no possible way to capture the magnitude of God's goodness within the written word but if you feel even a spark of the awe I felt then I trust you will be blessed...

Today I witnessed a miracle.

It happened in my own backyard.

My heart is simply in awe of it all...

Let's rewind a few days.

Last week my former youth pastor suddenly passed away at the young age of 54.  He left behind 5 children and a loving wife.  

It was shocking.

My heart has just been aching for his family.

I rejoice for Pastor Hall.

His faith instantly became sight.

He went to sleep in his home, and he woke up in glory.

I can hardly imagine...

His sudden passing put my mind in a tailspin.

Such a reminder of how fragile life is.

It can end at any moment.

Only God knows the hour.

I don't worry about my own life being whisked away.

I know I will rise to meet my savior.

But I don't want to be left behind.

I spent the week mourning for Pastor Hall's family.

Praying for God's mercy to be showered upon them.

As I sat as his funeral on Saturday I was in awe of his children as they spoke and sang and worshipped the King of Kings.

They truly turned eyes toward heaven.

My stomach churned a little as I thought about myself in their very shoes.

What if it were my dad.

My mom.

My brother.

My husband.

Worst of all, my children.

Satan wrapped himself around that last awful thought and he ran away with it.  I was along for the unfortunate ride.

As the devil shouted lies and crippled me with fear God whispered ever so gently... It's not up to you...

I came home and my children were playing outside.

I changed clothes and took a quiet moment.
 I sat on my living room couch and asked Jesus to meet me right there.

I gazed through the open windows and listened to their squeals of joy as they played in this area of dirt which has been their favorite play place for the past week or so.
"Such carefree innocence" I thought to myself.

As I watched them dig I prayed out loud.

I asked God to whisper truth into my heart.

My cheeks were wet with tears as I asked that he would untangled my heart from the web of fear that Satan had bound me in.  

I spoke these words...

"Lord I know these babies are yours.  They were yours before they were mine.  Their very life is your hands.  Each breath that they take in is because of you.  You know the exact words that will make their life story.  I can protect them from many things, but you oh Lord are in control of their destiny.  I pray your protection over them.  Please Lord, protect my babies from that which I have no control over...."

I felt His presence.

He was in this place.
He met me right here.

Fast forward to this morning...

Collin asked to play out in the yard.

Ryan and I both said "no", figuring we would wait for it to warm up a bit.

Collin promised he wouldn't be too cold and I actually thought about letting him go out but then decided he should just wait.

Not long after he screamed for Ryan from the kitchen.

We came in to find this....

Collin had watched as an enormous tree from our neighbors yard had collapsed into our yard.

But not just in our yard.

It completely COVERED the dirt where my children wanted to be.

The very place that they sat while I prayed over them on Saturday.

Ryan's first words...

"If they had been out there, it would have killed them instantly, that log weighs more than a car..."

At first I felt sick.

I even said it out loud "I feel sick"

My knees grew weak.

My body shook as I thought about the "what ifs".

Tears welled up in my eyes and it is then that

God quickly met me right here in my kitchen.

They weren't out there.

IF my kids had been in the dirt, there would have been tragedy.

But my kids WEREN'T there.

They wanted to be.

But there weren't.

It wasn't because it was cold.

It wasn't because I said no.

It was because God's hand of protection was covering them.

They are always being held in the palm of his nail scarred hands.

Held by the very God who spins the earth.

He foresaw the danger that we didn't know was in our own yard.

HE protected them.

I wept.

Literally wept.

Not because of what "could have been" but because He did it all for me.

He let the tree fall for me.

It is no coincidence that my children sat in that very spot as I prayed over them and their lives on Saturday asking God to untangle my heart from gripping fear over that which I have no control... my children's destiny. 

It is no coincidence that I asked God to speak truth into my heart as my children were elbow deep in that very dirt.

No coincidence.

It was miraculous.

No coincidence that it was a tree.

Genesis 2:9
 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life.
The life that I have no control over.
The life that God controls.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Remember how I asked God to speak truth to me so I would recognize Satan's lies.

He used the tree.
It fell for me.

We weren't "lucky" that Collin and Madelyn were inside today.

We were protected, by the God who controls it all.

Our every breath.

Each time Satan tempts me to worry for my children's future I will be vividly reminded of the enormous tree.
Reminded of the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God did it for me.

He protected my children.

But He let the tree fall for me.

He knew they wouldn't be out there.

But He knew I needed to see it.

He knew.

He knows.

He always knows.

He is faithful.
He is in control.

We can trust Him.

I trust Him.

Do you?