Just a Reminder - The Christian Online Magazine

Those who fear the Lord are secure;
he will be a refuge for their children. Proverbs 14:26 (NLT)

Note: Since this was written, the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech occurred. Surely this event seems horrendous compared to the one below. Remembering we live in a fallen world where all types of atrocities can occur, even so He promises us peace in the midst of all things.

Mother’s Day looks very special this year with some unexpected growth in my family. Nearly a month ago, a young lady about whom we have come to care deeply, came and asked if she could become a part of our family. Unfortunately, she was one of those little wandering lambs whose parents didn’t care for her. We have taken on that role. She wants to make it permanent, and so do we. So via adoption, I am going to be a mother again.

Then, within the last couple of weeks, my eldest son called to tell me the exciting news that he and his wife are expecting another child at Christmas—what a joyous gift! So I have been really anticipating this coming Mother’s Day at the thought of becoming a mother and grandmother again.

Last Tuesday, God brought me to an abrupt halt with a stark reminder. Just when I was sailing along thinking life was good, my marriage was going well, and all was lovely with my world, the phone at my desk rang. The sobbing, panicked voice of my youngest daughter filled my ear, and the words she managed to get out froze my heart and mind. “Mommy, we are in lock-down. There’s someone shooting at our school.”

Speaking softy, I tried to calm her as I learned that the teacher of the classroom next door had come into the room saying there had been a shooting. Students from his class stumbled in behind him trying to remove glass shards from their hair, arms, and faces while he dialed the office to report the shooting. Suddenly she had to shut off her cell phone and I realized I hadn’t even had time to pray with her, only to say, “I love you, honey.”

Immediately I sent an urgent email to prayer partners across the country and then dialed my husband. As he was on his way to pick me up (we carpool together), I dialed the police only to be told that they were on their way as was the SWAT team. The 911 operator told me that I was not to go to the school for there was nothing that I could do. Oh how true that was!

Quickly we drove toward home to wait for news, my daughter managed to text me that they were in “lock-in.” Next she texted me that they had had a bomb threat. Praying and waiting, I felt numb as I fielded phone calls from her siblings and grandparents. My husband said he’d go mow the lawn and I was supposed to make a grocery list (which I found the next day in the freezer) while we tried to pass the time hoping for notification that we could pick her up.

Although it was only 4-1/2 hours later, it felt like forever until I heard her voice again. “Mom, they are evacuating us to a street just east of the school, can you come pick me up?” “We’re on our way,” I told her as I waved to my husband and we hurried to the car.

Unimaginable chaos met our eyes as we neared the school where more than 700 students awaited their parents. Driving up the freeway toward the school, we saw cars abandoned by frantic parents who had walked in hoping to reach their children. By traveling a back road, we managed to reach the police barricade and waited for what seemed like hours. Even though we knew she was OK, my stomach hurt and my heart pounded as my husband and I grasped hands and waited behind the barricade.

Ten students were injured by flying glass—two seriously enough to be hospitalized. Later we learned that one of the two girls was transported to a trauma center where a CAT scan revealed a bullet lodged in her jaw. The student gunman, using a high-powered rifle, had shot at upstairs windows in the high school hoping to kill two teachers at whom he was angry. He was later captured not far from the scene.

Prayers from across the country obviously reached the ears of God as my daughter walked from behind the police barricade at the exact moment that a group of saints in Missouri were on their knees praying for her safety. Ten years earlier the principal of her school had worked in a school in the southern part of the state where a school shooting had ended with the murders of students, teachers, and the killer’s parents. I believe that he was God’s chosen man in that hour. He knew exactly what to do, calmed the children with compassion and care, and took all the right steps to protect each of them.

For the next four days, I was in a state of numbness, fluctuating between anger and tears. I tried to read the Word and pray, but I found myself angry, incredibly angry. I wanted to cry, and my entire body ached. My daughter did not sleep for three nights and cried continuously. She did not want to go out of the house except beside me or her dad and was fearful of each stranger she saw.

I thought I was Superwoman, that I could always be Magic Mom, take care of my children and protect them (and my grandchildren) from all harm. And that realization completely broke my heart, destroying that idol of self I had set up inside. My eldest son will be 30 very shortly, but at the moment my daughter was forced to hang up her phone, I realized that all the years of tears, prayer, and working so hard to protect and raise my children meant nothing in this world. It was a terrifying realization: I could not protect my children.

Until He said to me in the quiet of the dawn hours as I prayed, “They were all Mine in the first place anyways.” And I said to Him, “Oh.”

Just a reminder.

Desirée L.M. Pheister is a wife, mother, and grandmother. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, needlework and looking for ways to bless others. You may reach her at: marrion8955@yahoo.com