Mommy Time by Arthur Sarah;

Author:Arthur, Sarah;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Women
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2013-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

The LORD is close to all who call on him,

yes, to all who call on him in truth.

PSALM 145:18

I WENT INTO LABOR around midnight on Thanksgiving—or, at least that’s when I realized, “Okay, this is it.” I stayed in bed for a while, snoozing between contractions, hoping they would ease off like all the other practice runs I’d had already. (I was the queen of Braxton-Hicks contractions.) But they didn’t go away. So eventually I got up and fixed myself a pile of Thanksgiving leftovers and ate standing at the counter, pausing periodically to let a contraction barrel through me like a train.

After a few hours I decided I should probably call my doctor. She’s a member of our church and a good friend besides. But by this time it was three thirty in the morning, and Friday is her day off. I put off calling her as long as possible, worried that this was going to ruin her family holiday or send her grumbling to the coffeepot to complain with her colleagues.

But instead a perky voice answered, “Hi!” To my surprise her phone buzzed with background noise like she was at a Big Ten football game.

“It’s me. Sarah.”

“I know! You’re calling me at three forty-five in the morning. That means you’re in labor.”

“Why, yes, I am,” I replied, grinning. “Did I wake you up?”

“Oh, no!” she said—and then to someone else, “Grab those shorts. The ones on that rack.” Then into the phone, “No, we’re at Kohl’s.”

“You’re . . . ?” I was speechless.

“You know, for Black Friday. All the stores opened at midnight. We’ve already been to Target.”

I began to laugh. “You mean, you’re not sleeping in on your day off?”

“Are you kidding? (Honey, get that other shirt—yeah, the blue one.) Actually, I’m on call. But it looks like I’ll be delivering a baby.”

And she did—although, not for another thirty hours. By that time she was wishing she had ditched Kohl’s and slept through the night, and I was wishing I’d eaten more Thanksgiving turkey while I’d had the chance. But somehow we got through it.

I learned something from my doctor that day. And it wasn’t just all the medical stuff, like the official term for when a baby’s head is crooked in the birth canal. (Trust me, I could have done without that one.) Rather, it was about the character of God.

I’ve already said that we can’t wake God up because God never sleeps. And I’ve celebrated God’s unwearying, relentless love. But that frosty Friday morning my doctor reminded me that we can’t surprise God. There’s nothing I can throw his way that will startle him, shake him up, send him into a panic. As Psalm 145:18 says, he is already close to us. He’s always on call.

So why am I always surprised when he answers?

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