The Dreaded Phone Call
The dreaded phone call, the one that no mother wants to
have, happened today at exactly 9:00am.
I thought it was a bit unusual for my phone to be ringing at
this time; after all I had just spoken to my daughter an hour earlier. It was
unlike her to call me at the office, so I eagerly anticipated what she wanted
to tell me. However that was short lived when I answered the phone.
The words coming though the receiver were, "Mom, there's been an
accident."
The rest of the words were blurred and garbled through tears and gasps for air on the other end of the phone. All I could make out were Griffin...fell...head...not moving...bump.
My heart stopped
What could I say or do? Prayer was the only answer I could come up with, but the words that normally would flow off of my lips were stuck in my throat as if paralyzed.
It's one thing when an accident involves your child but it is compounded when it involves both your child and your grandchild. What do you say to comfort your child when hurting so badly for them?
All I could do was say, "Call on Jesus,” because I knew that He is the only source of power in a situation, like this. Only then was I able to get words of prayer out, letting God know that we trusted Him and prayed that God would care for baby Griffin.
It seemed like an eternity that we were on the phone, but it was only a couple of minutes before I heard voices in the background and assumed it must have been the paramedics, but then there was silence. Nothing. I waited a couple of minutes, shouting for my daughter, but no answer, so I hung up and began the process of calling to enlist other people to pray...my husband, my mother, my other daughter for starters, knowing that they would pass the word to others, including my sister. I was returning to my office when I stopped in a coworker’s office and asked her to pray also.
Not having anymore details than just those few words, I tried to call my daughter back. She answered as she was riding in the ambulance with the baby and told me that the paramedics thought he was going to be all right and the huge lump on the back side of baby Griffin's head was probably a broken blood vessel, but more tests would be needed at the hospital.
Back at my desk it was difficult to concentrate. Every muscle in my body was tense. I could hardly breathe. I knew all I could do was trust in Jesus. He was the one in control, the one who had the power and authority.
As the day progressed, more phone calls ensued. At 9:12 am They were being examined in the emergency room...at 10:19 am they were planning to do a cat scan...at 10:23 am they were in a room at the hospital and then at 12:57 pm only 4 hours later they were home with the message to watch him closely for eating, sleeping and movement patterns.
I called Margaret on the way home from work and by that point she was able to speak clearly and tell me exactly what had happened. Griffin had been strapped in his seat on the kitchen counter while she fed him his breakfast. She had turned around for less than 30 seconds to walk less than 3 feet when she heard Griffin hit the floor, chair and all.
It could have been so much worse and we are so thankful knowing that the outcome could have been very different.
Your dreaded phone call may be from a doctor's office, from a spouse or something entirely different. The outcome may not be what you want it to be, but you can rest assured that God will not abandon you and He is still good no matter what happens, so trust in Jesus knowing that He loves you beyond your imagination.
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord
appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting
love; I have drawn you with
loving-kindness.”
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