Under His Umbrella

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Cast all you anxiety on him, because he cares for you. – I Peter 5:7

Back in the 80’s Marty and I moved from Michigan to St. Louis with our two children, Joanna and Benjamin. We arrived at our new home a week before Christmas to find the pipes frozen, but since my parents lived not far from us, this was only a minor glitch. We enjoyed the holidays with the grandparents and started attending a church nearby, where Joanna was enrolled in kindergarten.

Our daughter seemed ready for school. We had bought her some cute new clothes (At that age, everything was pink and purple.), ribbons for her pigtails, a lunchbox, and her most cherished accessory – a little pink umbrella with unicorns on it, which she insisted on taking to school every day, no matter the weather.

Shortly after school started, the women of the church had a luncheon in the fellowship hall. I had jumped right into this group and had found my new friends to be warm and welcoming. But that day I was about to realize it might not be as easy for a child to start a new school in the middle of the year.

Walking into the fellowship hall and passing the kitchen, I noticed that children could be seen through the kitchen window as they had recess, including one little girl I recognized. Her head was down, so she couldn’t see me, but I had a stabbing pain in my heart.

Unlike the other girls, who were playing in little clusters, laughing and apparently having a good time with friends they had known since September, Joanna was by herself. She was slowly walking around the perimeter of the playground, dragging her little pink umbrella with the unicorns on it.

As I stopped for a moment, the heartache intensified, now with tears. I whispered a frantic “mama prayer”:

Lord, Joanna needs You! Please help her to make some friends!

I don’t remember what we had for lunch that day. I only remember gulping it down as quickly as possible and taking my plate into the kitchen.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that!” a lady at the sink admonished good-naturedly, taking the plate from me. (Yes, I do …)

On the way out I lingered again by the window. Again, the tears flowed, but this time they were tears of gratitude.

It had started to rain, and a gaggle of little girls were crowded together, talking and giggling as if they were all old friends, including the one holding the umbrella they were under – a pink umbrella with unicorns on it.

Thank You, Lord!

Prayer: Lord, You know how our mama hearts can ache for our children. Sometimes we forget that You love them even more than we do. But they are in Your hands, and we can be confident that You won’t let them go. Thanks for what You did for Joanna that day by sending rain at just the right time – and for the kindergarten teacher who “for some reason” didn’t call everyone inside when the rain started! Thanks for answering my prayer so quickly, and for Your perfect timing in placing me right where I could see the answer for myself. Help me to trust You for hearing my prayers, even when the answers aren’t as immediate or as obvious. Help my faith in You to grow stronger every day, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Published by seekingdivineperspective

I am a forgiven sinner and adopted child of God, seeking to see life from His perspective - as opposed to the world's flawed perspective - and living my life accordingly.

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41 thoughts on “Under His Umbrella”

    1. Thanks, Nancy. …OK, it’s confession time. I found out later that Joanna wasn’t walking slowly with her head down because she was sad and lonely. Turns out she was looking for treasures on the ground. She showed me a couple she found when she came home that day. LOL! 😀
      Now that I think of it, this is a perfect illustration of the premise of this blog: that if we’re angry or disappointed, or upset or sad (or, as in this case, hurting for our little ones), it’s because we don’t have the right perspective. Not just when we’re interpreting things wrong, the way I was doing that day, but when we don’t have the “Big Picture” the way God does.
      (That thought just now occurred to me! 😀 )

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  4. I loved this story. What a great illustration of how much God cares for us, listens to our prayers, and answers them. Pretty ingenious of Him bringing rain to help a lonely little girl. 🤣

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  8. This was such a cute, heartfelt story. When things like this happen you just know that it’s God answering prayers in that genius way that he always does. He loves and cares for us all so much. Enough to send down a little rain at the perfectly timed moment so that we can make some friends 🥰

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  11. What an amazing story! I can definitely relate to that desperate prayer from your momma heart. And I can also relate to the gratitude from seeing God pull through in a way you never could have. Blessings to you! Thank you for sharing!

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  12. Shows how loving and compassionate our God truly is and how much He loves the children. Beautiful, heart warming blessing. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you and have a very blessed week. Robin

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  13. Pingback: Under His Umbrella – QuietMomentsWithGod

  19. Ahhh beautiful outcome!! I love the way you told this story, the writing style reminds me of Alicia Bruxvort’s devotions that she writes for Proverbs 31 ministries. She usually weaves a combination of reflections of her children plus loads of wisdom together to ultimately glorify God.
    Wonderful post, Annie. ❤️ Love that your go-to in your daughter’s time of need was to reach out to God! What a difference He makes in our lives, can’t imagine life without Him.

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