Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Peace in the Process
    • Bringing Home More Than Groceries
  • Contact

God provided with kindness

March 16, 2018 by Kristin 14 Comments

The same God who provided a ram in the thicket for Abraham provided rescue and kindness following a terrifying situation I recently experienced.

On Sunday morning, my two best friends and I were packing and cleaning up from a fun weekend at the lake with our three families. Sarah and Jaclyn were in the living room with most of the 10 kids, while I was doing some laundry and inventorying our supplies before the upcoming rental seasons gets underway.

As I came up the stairs, I heard several people saying, “Where’s Rachel?” I ask that often, and usually find her hiding behind her rocking chair or beneath the utility sink. The kids started checking some hiding places, and others of us walked outside.

We couldn’t find her. I had no concept of time, but we’re talking several minutes at this point.

I looked more than once down along the shoreline, which is a fairly long walk from our house, and sent other kids up the long driveway. Rachel must have been in a blind spot caused by the curve of the land when I looked toward the water because then Sarah spotted her on the dock. Sarah later told me she moved quickly but slowly because she didn’t want to Rachel to jump into the lake and isn’t sure she was ever so relieved to touch another human.

I was relieved too. I made my way down and met them on their way back up to the house. I hugged Rachel tightly and the spanked her, immediately telling her she couldn’t go down there alone. I made it back to the house with my girl – the youngest among our three families – before I started sobbing. Worst-case scenarios and what-if circumstances flowed freely in my mind as I hugged my most fearless child who must have escaped the house while people were going in and out preparing to head to church.

I told her I was scared when I couldn’t find her. She growled like a monster. I reworded my statement: “I was so sad when I couldn’t find you.” She asked me why I was crying, so I repeated my answer. “Go fishing,” she said, offering her explanation about why she had ventured down to the dock where some dads and older kids were fishing the day before.

Those few minutes drained me and I loaded my family and our things into our minivan grateful we were all back together.

As I started processing the situation, I remembered several months ago I had asked Sarah, my friend who rescued Rachel from the dock, to pray for Rachel’s physical safety. My third-born child’s personality is full of curiosity and lacks fear. She thinks she can do anything the big kids do and does her best to keep up with them. She’s resourceful and persistent. All these qualities will take her far in life but wear me out as her mom.

Sarah has faithfully been praying from her home more than four hours away and then was the one to hand Rachel to me after a terrifying few moments. While texting a few days later, Sarah reminded me she had asked how she could pray for Rachel (and the rest of my family) on Dec. 11. The rescue she made to potentially save my daughter’s life happened exactly three months later. I can’t help but think God prepared her to be present this way.

God is our rescuer, and sometimes
he provides a friend to help.

{Tweet that.}

*****

I’m joining the Five Minute Friday crew with this post inspired by this week’s prompt: PROVIDE. Admittedly, it took me about twice the allotted five minutes to write, but this post has been brewing in my head and this seemed like the right time to tell it.

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Five Minute Friday Tagged With: faith, friends, motherhood, Rachel

Comments

  1. Joanne Viola says

    March 16, 2018 at 7:42 am

    Such a frightening situation to face. I cannot imagine and don’t think I would have made it to the house before breaking into tears. And you know Rachel has become loved by so many of us as you share your children with us. I am grateful for God’s protection and for His provision of friends who faithfully pray!

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 16, 2018 at 8:30 am

      Well, I think I was feeling so many emotions at once that it was hard to know what to feel, if that makes sense. But when the tears came, they CAME. Lots of tears. I’m so grateful for that provision too, and for the way you love our family from afar. xo

      Reply
  2. SUSAN SHIPE says

    March 16, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Terrifying. I remember when the same type of thing happened to and it was my no-fear daughter! That little booger may need a leash. xo

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 16, 2018 at 8:29 am

      Children are stressful sometimes. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Lauren Sparks says

    March 16, 2018 at 9:49 am

    Beautiful example, friend. Thank you for sharing. And praise God for good friends.

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 17, 2018 at 10:24 am

      Thank you for being here, Lauren! xo

      Reply
  4. Meghan Weyerbacher says

    March 16, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    Oh my word, I would have done the same thing. We have had a few incidents that were as this, scared me to my core.
    Praise God for keeping her, and providing this friend too!

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 17, 2018 at 10:24 am

      Thank you, Meghan!

      Reply
  5. Jeanne Takenaka says

    March 16, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    Awww, Kristin. That IS scary! I’m so glad God kept your Rachel safe, and that He used Sarah to pray for you and to help you. When my youngest was wee-small, I had taken the kids to the park with a friend. My little wandered off to the parking lot. When I looked for him, I had never felt such terror as when I couldn’t see him anywhere. A man walked him toward me a few minutes later, but oh, my. There’s no way to truly describe that fear, is there?

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 17, 2018 at 10:24 am

      Oh my is right! Those times are so scary! Thanks for being here with encouragement, Jeanne! xo

      Reply
  6. Tara says

    March 16, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    What a scary situation. I’m so glad she is ok. God often does provide friends. This week I was so thankful for friends as we grieved and celebrated our friend together.

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 17, 2018 at 10:23 am

      I’m glad you also got to experience the blessing of friends despite hard circumstances. Thanks for being here, Tara!

      Reply
  7. Shauna Blaak says

    March 18, 2018 at 11:07 am

    Wow, Kristin. As I read all of the comments here, I don’t think one of us hasn’t been touched by a moment like this. Sometimes, kids escape despite our best efforts. Our third child was like that, so much so that we had to put a wrist-leash on him. I remember saying once that “I’ll never do that,” but when we were traveling to South Africa with 12 suitcases, 11 carry-ons and 4 kids, I was soooo glad to have him tied to me.
    Thank You, Father, for protecting Rachel!
    Thank You, Father, for great friends who fill in the gap when we need extra help!
    Thank You, Father, that you love our kids even more than we do, and that we can trust you completely with their lives and destiny!

    Reply
    • Kristin says

      March 19, 2018 at 8:14 am

      Amen. Thank you for being here with encouragement, Shauna!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let’s Connect

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Me

Telling stories is my therapy and I love sharing them with friends on my porch.

The main characters in my stories are my entrepreneur husband, our eighth-grade girl who never forgets, our have-no-fear fifth-grade boy, and our joy-filled preschool girl. As we live out our stories, we seek God as the author of them all.

Learn more about my story here.

Subscribe for Updates

Recent Posts

  • Hope at home with Dolphin Island
  • Hello, March!
  • 3 Ways to Boost Our Kids’ Confidence
  • Songs of Hope
  • Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First.

#PorchStories button

Join the Conversation

Join the Conversation

On Instagram

I’m thankful for sunshine, room to explore, and I’m thankful for sunshine, room to explore, and the bonds of family. ☀️ #countryliving #TeamTaylor #adventurers #choosingJOY #weekending
Ben found an Easter egg that we hid almost a year Ben found an Easter egg that we hid almost a year ago and never found. So much has happened since then, but the plastic egg remained through all the seasons. Something had opened it, eaten the candy, and left the trash. There’s actually one more out there somewhere. #boymom #reallife #countryliving #weekending #easteregg
Shout out to the Calloway County Road Department f Shout out to the Calloway County Road Department for repairing our road in LESS THAN A WEEK! #countryliving
This past year has been full of lots of closures a This past year has been full of lots of closures and road blocks as we’ve all navigated #socialdistancing and the #coronaviruspandemic. But more recently my life has involved more pivoting, regrouping, adjusting, and waiting in daily everyday life.

I’ve waiting for the insurance company to handle the repairs that need to be done so my van trunk can open again after a guy rear-ended me at a stoplight last week. I’ve been making decisions to finish a renovation at our lake house, which also had a flooring issue complicated by recent flooding. I’ve been driving different routes while our road gets fixed. I’ve been parenting kids in different seasons that require different things from me. I’ve been watching friends carry heavy burdens. I’ve been processing what belonging looks like right now. 

The road we expected to take may be closed, but there’s another way. And the unexpected may even be the better way. Grief and hope, frustration and gratefulness, sadness and joy all can come alongside us in the same moment as we navigate our way through.

I’m feeling hopeful today, even though the circumstances haven’t really changed. My trunk still won’t open. There’s still warped and destroyed flooring. A propane gauge is broke and misled me. Friends are still hurting. But we’re still journeying through life and all its surprise curves.

#reallife #PorchStories #livingfaithfully #choosingJOY #countryliving #bettertogether
It’s hard to believe it was a year ago this week It’s hard to believe it was a year ago this weekend we were at the #OVCtourney in Evansville with thousands of Racer fans a week before the world shut down. Here we are again, circumstances are incredibly different, but we are still rooting for our #Racers. 💛 #WeAreRacers #RacerNation @ovcsports @racershoops #TeamTaylor #roadtrip #socialdistancing
☑️ Second dose of a covid vaccine. I’m thank ☑️ Second dose of a covid vaccine. I’m thankful for hope of returning to some version of “normal.” #socialdistancing #covid_19 #covidvacccine
After lots of time at home the past month, we wer After lots of time at home the past month,  we were thankful for a family-friendly movie I got to screen from the comfort of our couch. My husband, mother-in-law, and I may have liked it more than the kids, but we also were glad for some clean entertainment to share with the youngsters in the house.

“Dolphin Island” is a heartwarming feature film about 14-year-old Annabel who lives with her fisherman grandfather on an island paradise. They operate a nonprofit marine research and conservation center. She is surrounded by an extended family of loving but quirky neighbors and her best friend, a dolphin named Mitzy. 

Everything changes when her maternal grandparents arrive with a shifty lawyer to bring her back to New York. Annabel and her friends navigate these circumstances to prove that love conquers all.

I've got a review & giveaway #ontheblog. #linkinbio #familymovie #movienight #bloggerlife #DolphinIslandMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork #giveaway #moviereview #TeamTaylor
As February ends and March begins, we are thankful As February ends and March begins, we are thankful for a house on higher ground, where we’ve been sheltered from so much this month. We’re thankful there’s another way out, and the school taxi commute is only about five minutes longer than usual. We’re thankful for health and each other and God’s goodness and provisions even when – perhaps especially when – we have no idea what’s around the next corner.

I'm recapping our crazy February #ontheblog. #linkinbio #bloggerlife #countryliving #socialdistancing #reallife #momlife #choosingJOY #livingfaithfully #PorchStories #documentyourdays #documentlife
This season was interrupted by covid & snowstorms, This season was interrupted by covid & snowstorms, involved  re-scheduling practices & games while sharing the gym with the other teams, and happened when we weren’t sure it would. Through it all, we are so thankful for these girls’ friendships, their coaches, and the hard work everyone gave. 💛 #socialdistancing #momlife #basketballmom #girlmom #covid_19 #wintersport #basketball @ncca.lions
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Favorite Places & Projects

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2021 Kristin Hill Taylor | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.