I am the type of person that sees uncontrolled events as protections from God. Everything in life perfectly orchestrated by a perfect God.   I try to remember this when the unexpected happens. You are late leaving the house. You don’t get that promotion at work.  Plans fall through at the last second. God says no to your prayer. What is God protecting me from?

This way of thinking was especially helpful a few weeks ago. 

We bought our international plane tickets several months in advance. We had a flight change. Instead of leaving our hometown at 11am, (which would have been so convenient), we now had a 7am take off; and instead of a one-hour layover in Seattle, we now had four. The changes seemed less than ideal, but what can you do? 

The ‘night before packing’ ritual started. I probably just stressed out half my mamas. Yes, I pack the night before. I don’t understand the early packers, and they don’t understand me.  

The most fun tradition begins the morning of your trip. You leave the house and playing the “What did I forget game?” Always, always, always, I forget something.  But I reassure myself that I have my ID, and everything else is replaceable.  When I figure out ‘what I forgot’ always varies! This particular morning the revelation came about 30 minutes before boarding our first flight; AKA too late to do anything about it.  Hubby and I had our wallets and passports, but what we left behind was almost as critical to our international vacation! Any mama wants to venture a guess?…..

 My husband’s international drivers license! Half our time in Spain was using a rental car to cover several hundred miles. GULP!

As the shock settled in, we each mentally sprang into action. How were we going to remedy this? What were our options?  Hubby and I began weighing our options solo. Our unique problem solving thoughts highlighted our approaches to life. Unbeknownst to me, hubby was looking at options for replacing the driver’s license. Did it make sense to do it domestic or abroad? Where? As you can tell, my hubby is a logical, smart, and orderly thinker! Myself, I was going to worst-case scenarios. If we can’t drive, we will have to cancel this city, and that city, take the train here, lose the hotel deposit there. Even though I am a catastrophic thinker, I still like to keep a rosy spin and I reminded myself, we still get to go on vacation!! I knew we would make the most of this wonderful trip regardless of this obstacle. Catastrophic thinking is an unwanted byproduct of my profession; while being calm and logical is wonderful byproduct of hubby’s profession. 

Thankfully, hubby’s solution was less dire.  By the time we landed in Seattle, he had our remedy. Since we now had a 4 hour layover, we were able to Uber to a business that provided international driver’s licenses. Hubby even had the foresight to pick the location that bypassed the freeways and avoided Seattle morning rush hour traffic. The flight cancellation now made perfect sense!! Our quadrupled layover length was now a blessing and no longer an inconvenience! Thank you God protected our trip.

Mamas we need to work hard to reframe how we are viewing our grief. Instead of asking: Why me? What did I do to deserve this?  (It is okay to ask those questions, but we have to guard our hearts from dwelling on them). Try asking instead: What are you protecting me from God?

God has protected my 13 babies from this hard life that is full of hard days and hard people. My babies will never know anxiousness, tears, heartbreak, fear, or death. My babies remain My 13 Little Angels.  Thank you God for protecting my family.

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“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalms 139: 15-16

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