Experience

Saturday we went to Kevin's brother's wedding. They've lived together for four years and have a little boy. Kevin's dad came with his girlfriend, his step-mom came with her boyfriend, and Kevin's older brother came with his boyfriend. After "Pastor Phil" married the two civilly, there was drinking and loud, obsence music.

The setting was beautiful, though. The party was next to a pool, and as things started winding down, we let the girls swim as we visited and watched from the side. Kevin and I were talking and watching Beth crawl a little distance from the pool when we noticed someone struggling in the water. It caught both of our attention, and we moved toward the pool, only to realize it was Calianne under the water and unable to get out. Kevin jumped into the water in his dress clothes, pulled her out and handed her to me.

She threw up a few times and was very scared, but otherwise unharmed. I was absolutely sick to my stomach thinking how much worse it could have been and reliving the moments when I watched her thrashing in the water. It's also painful to imagine what it was like for her -- what she was thinking and feeling and how long it was before we got to her. I am supposed to protect her! I am supposed to make sure such things never happen!

That night as I said our family prayer, I thanked the Lord for Calianne's safety. As I prayed, I was filled with the feeling and the reassurance that it was the Lord who had turned our attention to the struggling non-swimmer in the pool just when she needed to be noticed. (What a wonderful witness! The Lord is so much more reliable than just luck!) It also seemed that the Lord told me that this was one of the blessings of living our lives the way that we do -- so different from the many lives we witnessed that day. He said, this is what you get in return. You get my protection. You can't be everywhere, so I am here to back you up.

I am so grateful for that. Not only for the protection, but for the knowledge of the protection. I know that I have the very most complete, perfect, loving backup anywhere.

Thank you, Lord, for protecting my children. Thank you for loving me and helping me out in this great challenge of parenthood in which I so badly want to do well. Thank you for teaching me, for showing me, one more way that living your gospel blesses me.