The Unexpected Family Devotion

The other day Brooke and I were running errands when a Steven Curtis Chapman song came on the radio. It prompted me to pray once again for their family.

I know from personal experience that this is about the time when things start to quiet down and grief gets really hard.

Marybeth will walk into Maria's room and the quietness will make her arms ache and her heart sink.

She'll go to do some laundry and find some of Maria's clothes. She'll breathe in her smell so deeply that she will never want to exhale and let another part of her go.

And she'll find little things that make the tears come again... a pony tail holder tucked in between the couch cushions, a baby doll that is covered in a thousand of Maria's kisses.

In the quietness of her heart she'll try to find a place to put all this.

Yes, these are the days where our prayers are fervently needed.

As the song on the radio finished, I looked at Brooke in the rear view mirror. She was quietly picking little flakes of pink fingernail polish off her nails, lost in her thoughts.

"Brooke, do you remember when I told you about that little girl that died named Maria? That's her Daddy singing that song. I think we need to keep praying for that family."

She told me she would.

"Brooke, what if one of your friends who heard about this sad accident, asked you, 'how could a good God let such a bad thing happen?'--- What would you say?"

Her little nine year old voice came out as secure and confident as a fifty year old preacher man, "I'd tell them that God has a plan. And that His plan is good even if we can't understand it."

I then decided to make the question more personal. "Yes, but what if it was me or Daddy that died. Would you still believe that?"

She stopped picking at her nails and looked straight at my face in the mirror, "Mom, we all have to trust God's plan. I know everything He does is good even if we can't see that it is good. I wouldn't want you or Daddy to go away, but I know I'd be okay. Can we get some ice cream?"

I caught a tear half way down my cheek. I've often wished I was more organized with family devotions. But the reality of our lives has made this tough. Maybe, we'll do better this summer. Or maybe not and this is just the way that it will be.

Deuteronomy 11: 18-19 says, "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

... and when you are driving in your car.

... and when you are picking pink fingernail polish off your nails.

... and when you go to get ice cream.

"Yes, I think I'll have chocolate. Brooke, have I told you that I'm thinking of giving up Diet Sodas? Maybe we could pray about that too. Oh and I have a dress that I want to show you when we get home. It's a polka dot- wide belt dress that has quite a story."