By the Side of the road
Posted on Sunday, October 25, 2009 by oneP3 | (0) Comments
This is something my friend, Ellen, sent out to some of our high school friends…...this is the day to day stuff that a single mom faces. I am honored Ellen called for my help, but I admit I know the panic she felt. I am blessed that Ellen knows WHO her rescue comes from. Enjoy! -K
By the Side of the Road
By :Ellen
I just got back from my uncle’s funeral in Chicago yesterday and have to go down to Greenfield, IN to pick up my kids. I hit a huge, silver object in the road (didn’t have time to swerve) and thought to myself, “Hmmm, I hope that didn’t do any permanent damage on my car!” I got to McDonald’s and looked at my tire…it looked low but not flat. My husband hands me 50 cents and says, “Go fill it up with air at the station. You have Triple A right? Well then, you should be fine” and drives off. I make it down the road w/ my two kids who are an absolute wreck after being at their dad’s and a guy in the lane next to me honks and says, “You have a flat tire”. Damn! I knew it, I thought! So I turned into this abandoned newspaper parking lot. Sure enough, it was totally flat. My immediate thought was to panic, so I called my mom and Katie. Katie is amazing at finding people to help and I knew I would be taken care of regardless. I called AAA and they said they could be there in a hour. As my two kids were crawling across the parking lot I started to get a tear in my eye. I also got very angry with my dad for taking his own life. Where was anyone to protect us? There we were by the side of the road and I didn’t have a dad to call upon for help and protection. My husband texted me later and said, “Do you want me to come? I can if you need me”. Say what? You shouldn’t even have to ask! “You are their dad”, I thought. Why wouldn’t you immediately turn around and make sure we are ok?
My mom, who is a widow, was cutting her own tree branches yesterday. The branches were quite large for a 4”10 woman to be cutting by herself. I looked at her with a look of injustice and said, “Mom it isn’t supposed to be this way. You are supposed to have a man step in for you and help you. Out of anyone I know YOU deserve someone to look after you and care for you b/c of your faithfulness to Him.” She looked back at me and said, “Honey, I’ve learned that if I don’t do it myself, it won’t ever get done.” I now understand why James 1:27 is so true. PURE and UNDEFILED religion is helping widows and orphans (btw have you noticed how many stories there are about widows in the bible?). There is no worse feeling than being stranded with 2 kids and everyone passes you by. No one helps you. No one cares. We have grown complacent to the needs of others (myself included).
Just the other week my uncle passed away. His death has been such a blow to this family. I learned at the funeral that as a single man he gave up his dream job in Texas to move to Indy to “watch over” his sister, my mom. This man wasn’t even a Christian at the time and I can’t think of a more selfless act to do for a grieving widow. Now without him, I have my ALS dying uncle, an uncle in St. Louis, a brother-in-law in North Carolina, and a grandpa with Alzheimer’s in St. Louis. Those are all the men that are left in my family. Truly it is complete dependence upon God at this point for both my mom and me.
But God did provide for me last night. AAA showed up for me after an hour, we were safe, Katie’s new husband graciously drove down and followed me all the way home….AND Katie’s dad took my car for me today and is checking out my tires. I know God does not promise us an easy life, but He does promise to take care of us (Hebrews 13:5).
Thank you all for praying for me. My mom stopped to pray for me immediately when she heard I was all alone (as she knows how this feels). I believe that’s why we were safe as it was getting to be dark. I know I am not good at a lot of things in life, but if I’ve learned ANYTHING it’s just as it says in Proverbs 20:6, “Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?” I’ve been abandoned enough times in my life to know you don’t leave someone. You stay with them even when it gets so hard that you can’t bear it. If we follow this principle, I believe we will have treasure in heaven someday. More treasure than we can even fathom now.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for showing me that there is no greater call in this life than to be a servant. Your son Jesus was a servant. Help me to be more like Him. Lord, I choose to surrender all to You… whatever little left I have that is. Thank you for being patient with me and loving me.