The Madness of Hope

She's Brave!

She was four years old. With tears running down her face and close to panic, I said, "If you are brave and let the Doctor stitch up the cut, I will buy you a boy barbie." Summoning up all the courage she had, she laid still; pictures of her 'boy barbie' calming her fear.

She was in first grade and stood in front of the class to give her first project report. She froze and tears ran down her face. I whispered, "You can do it," and she summoned the courage to finish. By finish, I mean she nodded yes or no to her teacher's questions.

She was twelve and woke in the recovery room in severe pain after a bone biopsy. I whispered, "Mommy's praying for you. Be brave. The medicine will kick in soon."

Yesterday: She is eighteen and exhausted, nervous, insecure and completely frazzled. She had to speak yesterday for a Senior Citizen group at our church and share some of her experiences from her four months in Africa last fall. Nothing was coming together and the tears were threatening to escape her eyes. She didn't want me there because it made her more nervous.

"Just pray and I will pray. You prepared and God will take over. You can do this. I'll stay home and pray for you. Go!"

She was brave and God gave her courage! She called and said, "Mom! It went really well. They said I looked so nervous at the beginning but then I turned into YOU! They said I was just like you."

That's my brave little girl!

When I think of it, each time she showed courage I was backing her up with tons of prayer. I guess we should always be praying courage over our children.

Joining Lisa Jo at Five Minute Frida y as we write for five minutes and post: no editing, no rewriting.