Seventy-five years after the fact, I looked online to see if I could find the grave site of a friend. We were best friends in Sunday school class, at least as best of friends as five year olds could be. We were allowed to sit on the front pew in church together as long as we didn’t talk or giggle because her dad was the preacher.
Sometimes I got to spend Sunday afternoon at her house till church again that night. Wonder why this has been pressed into the front of my thoughts tonight? You wouldn’t think an almost five year old would remember this. It was pretty tramatic to learn that her mother had backed the car over her as she was on her tricycle behind the car.
I can’t even imagine how my mom and dad found the words to tell me. I do remember how hard it was to keep going to church with my best little buddy gone.
Then my thoughts drifted back to the year before when I almost died, or so I’m told, with pneumonia. I do remember waking up in the hospital, in a baby hospital bed in a strange place by myself. I have a picture in my mind of my mom and dad coming through the door to my room and me asking where they had been. I was terribly alone and afraid. They had only gone to the cafeteria for supper.
As I pondered why God allowed these two memories to surface, I can only think that it is so that I might share the peace and comfort that only comes through knowing Jesus and His Word because without Him there can be no peace and comfort or security when trouble hits.
Even as a 4-year-old, I knew my grandmother and parents knew Jesus, knew the power of prayer, and knew the only source of comfort was in His hand as they prayed.
Why did one four year old live and one five year old die? I do not know God’s timing on that. What I do know is that it is our responsibility to trust Him, to walk in all the light and understanding He gives us, and see that others have the same opportunity to find strength in Him.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” Phillipians 4:7