God Sent Me a Card

Well, not exactly. On a recent Sunday afternoon an Amazon box was plopped at our front door. When I opened it, I was disappointed. I meant to order a box of individual note cards with Bible verses on them. Instead, what Amazon thought I wanted was one single giant card with one giant verse. I tossed the card into my pile of things to return to Amazon.

That very night, at two in the morning, my phone jarred me awake and sent my heart pounding with premonition and dread. I was told my granddaughter was being rushed to the hospital, having had an apparent seizure.

For the next four hours I lay awake with an open Bible, praying the words from the prophet Isaiah, written some two millennia ago. Through the prophet, God promises the Israelites that when they pass through the deep waters, he will be with them.

I may have slept a bit. I don’t know. What I remember is walking into the kitchen around 6AM, turning on the light, and my eyes falling on a giant greeting card. On the front of the card were these words, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.”

This card will not be returned to Amazon. I believe that God sent this card to me. For he was indeed with me that night, as he was with my granddaughter, as he was with her worried parents. He brought our family through deep waters. Later that day we received word that the EEG was normal and the seizure had been due to a fever. No medication needed.

Maybe God sends us all cards.

They may take the form of brilliant fall leaves against a blue sky backdrop. Giggling on the phone with a friend. Holding hands with a toddler. A tail wagging furiously with a swaying backside telling you that you are the center of the canine universe. And it may dawn on you during those moments, that God has mailed a card to you. The card reads, “I love you. You are precious to me. Take heart. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.”