Are there sayings from your childhood that come back to you from time to time? I remember my daddy saying, “God is in everything. If you look hard enough, you’ll find Him.”
This past week has been a difficult week for my family. My mother-in-law hadn’t been feeling well and had fallen several times over the weekend without cause. My brother-in-law, Greg, drove to her house to spend the night with her and take her to the doctor Monday morning. They woke up and were getting ready when my mother-in-law walked out of the bathroom and passed out in Greg’s arms. He called 911 and she was rushed to the hospital. They learned she had internal bleeding and had lost a third of her blood. There was no medical explanation for her even being alive after such blood loss. They admitted her immediately.
God was there. He is the one who prompted my brother-in-law to make the drive to Whiteville to care for his mom. He was the one who had Greg in the room to catch my mother-in-law when she fainted. He gave Greg the quick response to call 911. 1 Kings 8:57 says “May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He never leave us nor forsake us.” He was with my mother-in-law and provided for her need by sending her son.
Greg called my husband as soon as the ambulance left for the hospital and my husband rushed home to pack a bag and begin the long drive to North Carolina. For the next 7 days, my husband and his brother were side by side, making decisions and talking through things. They hadn’t been close in a long, long time. Time and distance kept them from being close through the years. We live in different states and they haven’t had opportunity to spend time together to reconnect and rebuild a relationship. God was there. In the midst of the trauma of what they were walking through with their mom, God brought two brothers back together and began reestablishing a close relationship. They learned to lean on one another again and value one another’s opinion in making decisions. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
While this has been a very difficult time to walk through as a family, it has also been a time of great blessing. We have experienced the faithfulness of God. Psalm 89:8 is our cry, “O LORD God Almighty, who is like You? You are mighty, O LORD, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.”
My mother-in-law has a road of recovery ahead of her, but we are confident we will not walk that road alone. We know every step taken will be one taken with our faithful Father. We will find Him in our circumstances, because we’re looking for Him.