In His Care

Wednesday night I dreamed that our youngest son died. Even as I dreamed it, my mind registered it as obviously a dream. Nevertheless, I woke up with all the emotions as if it really happened. I sobbed for a few minutes, and felt hollow with the sense of loss for most of the morning.

The evening before the dream, our granddaughter called at supper time saying she’d be home later. She didn’t show up and by morning, after that dream and finding her room empty, I was fairly knotted up. To top it off, my husband was away on a business trip. No comforting hugs.

Of course I prayed about these things. At lunch time I called our daughter at work. She hadn’t heard from her daughter either, but knew that her younger brother had left that morning for a weekend in the USA. “Did he die on an airplane?” she asked, as concerned about such a dream as I was. I told her no, and he was just a little boy in the dream, but I was praying for him. Maybe this dream was a signal that he needs it right now.

After that, I called the youth hostel where our granddaughter works. The gal who answered the phone said, “Oh, she’s safe. She stayed here with me last night.” G-D called a bit later, apologizing that it was so late by the time she decided to stay over (this happens frequently) that she didn’t want to wake me.

Then last night my husband called and said he got tired of listening to the rhetoric and decided to come home a day early. He was forty-five minutes away and arrived home the same time G-D did. It was nice to be hugged after all this emotional stuff.

God hugs me too. My verses for today are Romans 5:6-8: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This is the simple gospel. I don’t do anything to earn or deserve salvation. It is the gift of God to sinners like me. Jesus died for me long before I had any thought or opportunity to clean up my act. My efforts could not do it. His love for me is not based on anything I do or even want to do, but is grounded in His unchanging character.

Our youngest son is in God’s hands. Live or die, God is sovereign in His life. The same with G-D. She could have been in trouble so could not call home, but in the providence of the Lord, she was safe. As for Bob’s early arrival home, maybe God thought I needed him here as extra comfort for relatively little things like the aftermath of a traumatic dream or the worry of not knowing what was going on with our grandchild and star boarder.

Later on, Romans 8:31-32 says, “What then shall we say to these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Whatever the purpose God has for me, He will bestow on me all that is needed. It might be trials and difficulties that shape my character. It might be surprising blessings. Most of the time it is consistent and compassionate care. It is a great privilege to be called a child of God!