Throughout my lifetime, I’ve been known to do some crazy things. My kids know that I’m a cautious person by nature, but if God nudges me, I’ll obey most of the time, even if it goes against the natural current of society.
One Saturday morning, I had our two younger kids in the car and we were driving home from running some errands. We passed by an accident, a fender bender, and as per our usual, we prayed for them while continuing to drive home.
However, I quickly felt a God nudge to go back and offer to babysit the little toddler we had briefly seen at the scene as we were driving past.
I admit, I argued with my Father a little in my mind (my kids weren’t even aware God had nudged me yet), reminding Him I had my two kids in the car, I would feel stupid approaching a stranger and asking to hold his child, with a few other excuses thrown in for good measure.
The Holy Spirit volleyed back having my children in the car was exactly why I should head back and if He was asking me to do it, wouldn’t He take care of the details?
I informed our children (as I was pulling over so I could turn around and head back) that we were going back to the scene of the accident and I was going to offer to help watch the little boy so his dad (a teenager himself) could deal with the police without distraction.
It didn’t take but three minutes to return to the scene, I pulled into a business driveway far enough away to keep my kids safe and stay out of the way of the police, got out of the car and approached the group, instructing my kids to stay put until I motioned for them to come.
After introducing myself to the driver, I explained I was a mother myself, had my kids with me (so he wouldn’t think I was weirdo than I already felt) and offered to stay right by his car but hold his son so he could deal with the police without distraction. He readily agreed, handed his child over (whom wasn’t too happy having a stranger take him which is when I called our kids over, with toys to distract him and he brightened up), and then finished dealing with the details of the accident.
A few minutes later, our neighbor (a police officer himself) saw me there and asked if I knew the victim. My reply? Nope, just stopped to see if I could offer some help.
We stayed and played with the little boy until his grandparents arrived and took over. The whole incident took less than 10 minutes probably and I will never know if I was a nuisance or a genuine help. All I know is I listened to God’s nudge and show my kids the importance of obedience to our Heavenly Father.
Has something similar ever happened to you? Did you listen or did you do what I almost did and ignore it?
© Cheri Swalwell 2019