“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.” Psalm 138:7
I read these words in my devotion today and fear struck my heart. “Not another tragedy, Lord,” I thought, “I don’t think I can handle it right now.” Then knowing the enemy is the one who instills fear, I immediately grabbed hold of the promise that God has a plan and He knows what it best. He knows how to turn anything to work for my good and He promised that He would be there - always. I went on with my day.
Less than an hour later we received a phone call from the school. You are going to laugh when I tell you what it was concerning, but my heart sank at the words that came out of Tony’s mouth. “They think our kids might have head lice!” he declared with urgency in his voice. I panicked. I freaked out. I just knew my life had ended for the next few weeks. Head lice!?!?! I have three girls - two with very long, thick hair. How will we ever manage to get rid of it and be sure it’s gone? I had not been down this road before as the parent, the one in charge.
While I grabbed a quick shower I do what I often do there and had a little chat with God. I think that works for me right now because it’s the one place where I can have complete and total solitude. I can laugh, cry, sing and weep and no one hears me but God (at least if they do hear me, they have never let on). By the time my less than 10 minute shower was over, I came downstairs with a completely different perspective. Head lice shouldn’t be that big of a deal. It’s not a terminal disease or life-threatening illness. Yeah, we’ll be inconvenienced for a few days or weeks while we do constant laundry and keep vigil over these little critters. It could be a whole lot worse. So praise the Lord we are all healthy!
And now here I sit at the end of this grueling day. Exhausted, weary, hurting because I have had hours of stand-up work to do with a very sore heel; thoroughly shampooing a thick head of hair (only one daughter had it) vacuuming, vacuuming and vacuuming, laundry and more laundry and then getting the bedding back in place so a tired little girl can finally go to sleep. I still have piles of stuffed animals that need tossed in a good hot dryer and we have ordered a better kind of shampoo so there is more work to come in the next week. But for today, my work is done. And as I threw in that last load, I remembered my devotions from this morning. “Lord, was this the difficulty I was to face today? It hasn’t been easy and certainly wasn’t the evening I envisioned. But it could have been so much worse. So if this was it, thanks for not allowing it to be more serious. And thanks for helping me to put things into perspective. That in and of itself is the most important lesson that I could have walked away with today. You are so totally worthy of praise – in good times and in bad times. And if you are there to calm me and teach me when I’m dealing with something as mundane and commonplace as head lice, how much more will you be there in times of difficulty and devastation?”
It's then I remember the last part of the devotion that reads, “Praise God because he is an all-knowing Father who hears the cries of his children. Nothing that happens to us can ever escape his notice." [from something as simple as the call about head lice to something as distressing as the call that your father is gone forever.] And that is a promise we can take to the bank – because I’ve proven it.
Eight or nine students were sent home. We weren't the only ones that had the privilege of dealing with it.
