The Keeper of My Memories, and a Cancelled Flight

I learned something new about God the other day.

In response to my worry that I'm always behind in blogging (which, since I fail miserably at making photo albums or scrapbooks, is my way of recording the events of the present for future recollection) and because of that, might miss jotting down something really important that I would surely want to remember in days to come, I felt a peaceful assurance come to me.  It was as if God Himself whispered gently, "I am the keeper of your memories."

Indeed He is.  If I never get around to going back to the pictures I took during our wonderful vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in September of 2012 and doing a blog post about it, God can still remind me of the significance of that trip.  If I never make time to write down the many sweet moments that make up my days, God can bring them back to my mind in future years.  If I fail to record the insights He is teaching me about His Word, my role as a wife and mother, and any number of other significant topics, He is more than capable of bringing those thoughts back to me if and when I need them.  If it's important that I remember it in the future--whether for my own personal enjoyment or the benefit of my children or the encouragement of others--God is powerful enough to give me the memory when I need it.  

Whether or not I ever blogged about it!  :)

This all sounds silly, I know; but it actually brought great peace to my mind as I realized that, when I fret about all the things that are happening and are slipping through my fingers without ever being written down, I can relax and recall that God is the perfect keeper of my memories.  And in the moment of my need, He will bring to mind what is needed.

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Jeff's mom is here for a visit which fills us all with great joy!!  

She was scheduled to arrive at the airport in Charlottesville (only a little over an hour from us) at 9:22 this morning, and I was going to take all the kids to pick her up while Jeff was at work.  During the wee hours of the morning, however, Jeff got an alert on his phone that her flight from Dulles to Charlottesville had been cancelled.  What to do??

Since there are not many flights between those two airports, waiting for her to finally arrive in Charlottesville was not really an option, so the decision was clear: she would need to be picked up at Dulles (about a two-hour drive from here) around 6:00 a.m.  Ordinarily I would not have minded the drive to Dulles a bit; it's an easy route, and the kids and I would have looked on it as a fun adventure - no sweat!  But you see, when we found out about the cancelled flight (around 2:30 a.m. or so), I had not yet been able to sleep at all because Benjamin, who has never yet won an award for being a great sleeper, was having an even rougher night than he usually has.  Most of the time, when he cries in the night, I nurse him, he falls back to sleep, and I can lay him back in his crib and then lie down in my own bed to catch some sleep before he wakes again.  But last night he cried when I put him in his bed and cried when I tried to nurse him and was clearly bothered by something (tummy pain? ear pain? who knows?).  And so, I had literally not had even a wink of sleep when we found out about the flight.

"Oh, Lord," I prayed, "Can I even make it to the airport without any sleep at all?  Can I do an all-nighter followed by a four-hour (at the minimum) round trip without dozing off and crashing?  Will the chatter of the children be enough to keep me awake?  How can I even do this??"

I didn't have to.  Jeff, who had gone to bed earlier and gotten some sleep (although not a full night's rest at all), told me he would make the trip to Dulles, and I felt so much relief I could have cried.  In fact, I probably would have shed a few tears except I fell instantly asleep (because Benjamin FINALLY was content in the swing, and he slept there the rest of the night).  I was so very grateful for Jeff's willingness to cancel his morning haircut appointments (and his chance at more sleep!) so he could make the trip.

But here's the thing: while all of this was happening, his mom was flying through the night to get here from California, and she didn't have a clue what was going on.  Her first knowledge that her second flight was cancelled came when she got off her first flight and looked at the board to find the gate for her second one; only then did she see the notice that it was cancelled.  

So what did she do?  She called Jeff to explain her predicament, that she was stranded at Dulles.  Imagine her shock when he said, "I'm here!  I'm already here!"  

Two or three minutes later, they found each other, and he was able to explain to her that he found out what was going to happen hours before she did; and while she was still completely unaware, he had taken steps to make sure she was cared for and didn't have to wait by herself for hours in the airport.  The need she didn't even know she had, he met in full.

Does that remind you of anything?  Maybe something that God does for us?

In Isaiah 65:24, God promises, "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear."  

Sort of like what Jeff did for his mom this morning.  :)