Day 2 – Trusting Peace

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT

I imagined it looking like a movie scene when the girls and I burst through the hospital entrance -brushing past security with one mission: finding Mom. But it soon felt like mission impossible when we reached Ward 3, the pediatric unit. “This can’t be right”, I thought. “I am sure the lady said Ward 3”.

We started asking around, franticly explaining who we were looking for because this State Hospital did not have an information desk. I felt panic at the edges of my mind threatening to overwhelm me with a complete darkness of fear. “What if this, or what if that…” scenarios became the prelude to my thoughts. The moment I realised this, I stopped. I took a deep breath and refocused my thoughts on God asking Him to please help us find my Mom. It felt like someone threw a blanket over my shoulders and despite the confusion, I felt peaceful. The third nurse listened patiently to our story and told us we were not just in the wrong ward, we were in the wrong hospital! That specific ward for elderly women was in a hospital located about five blocks away. (To this day I cannot explain how I got the hospitals confused, but I do believe God had a plan with this too.)

I never understood how people could make rational, logical choices in moments of severe chaos. This afternoon I did, it felt like a perfect peace was guiding my every thought and action. Reversed movie scene: we burst through the entrance again only to stop dead in our tracks. A sea of cars waited to exit the parking lot with only one exit lane working. Doing a quick time calculation of how long it will take us to get out of the parking lot and navigate peak hour traffic to the other hospital, I decided it would be quicker if we walked. To call it a brisk walk is an understatement. We would have won any speedwalking race that afternoon.

Five blocks and two flights of stairs later (and very out of breath) we stood in front of a closed security gate. It seemed we were too late, visiting hours were over.

Prayer: Father, thinking back to all the rush and confusion of that afternoon only made me realise once again that if we keep my thoughts focused on You and not the situation at hand, You will keep us in perfect peace. But not only in stressful situations but in normal day-to-day things too: at work, in traffic, at home – You want perfect peace for us. Thank You, Lord, for Your perfect peace. Amen.