HE Prepares

Did you read this post, about the time we 'lost' an Edgewood resident temporarily at the mall?
The lesson I learned from that episode was, Don't worry. Don't cast blame. Just pray! I knew God knew where M was. She wasn't lost to Him. The thing we needed to do was remain calm, pray, and trust that God was going to re-unite us.

And HE did.

What I didn't know was that God would use that experience in the mall to prepare me for another missing person event on a slightly bigger scale.

Last Thursday my mother, my kids, and I went to Cedar Point together. But once we got into the park, 'together' was no longer their desire. (I had driven them to Cedar Point and bought their tickets. They had no use for me anymore. Except, that is, when they got hungry and wanted me to buy them lunch. LOL)
Elizabeth and her boyfriend went one way. Joshua and Matthew went another. And that was OK. Joshua and Elizabeth each had their cell phones, so it was easy to get a hold of them.

Everything was fine until mid-afternoon, when I got the following text from Joshua:

Matthew got mad at me and ran away. So, yeah.

I called Joshua and got a few details, then my mom and I started walking over to where Joshua had last seen Matthew. As we walked, I remembered the episode in the mall - and God's faithfulness. I could tell my mom was feeling anxious, so I told her about the mall thing. And I remembered I needed to pray.
At that point the two of us split up to cover more ground, and I began to consider the big-ness of my current situation.
*Cedar Point is a lot larger than the Lansing Mall.
*There were thousands of people walking around the park.
*If Matthew was so upset that he'd run away from Joshua, I had no idea if he'd be thinking clearly enough to try to find us.
*There were too many places for me to look for Matthew. And I was overwhelmed.

But God calmed my heart with the memory of His hand in the mall situation. He moved me to keep on praying. I asked God to bring Matthew and I together again. I thanked Him that He had Matthew in His sight, and asked Him to show me where to go. And as I walked, I saw in front of me...
Joshua.
Not the missing son, but I was encouraged nonetheless. To me, crossing paths with Joshua when I wasn't even looking for him, was a light of hope that I would find Matthew, too. So the two of us walked together.
Within a few minutes as we passed the arcade, I looked in and saw Matthew. And that was that.
The search was over.
I had Matthew again.
God showed Himself faithful in this 'bigger' situation, just as He had been before.
And all I could do was say, Thanks. For bringing back my Matthew. And for preparing me a couple weeks earlier - so I would know how to handle this circumstance.
Thank You, Father!

Think your circumstance is meaningless? Think again. God may be getting you ready for something else. Because HE prepares!