All Night Long

When you are up all night for no good reason and can hear your heart beating so loudly it sounds as if drums are playing in the room, you know it's going to be a long one.

I try to get up every Monday morning no later than 3 am so that I can answer the emails my son sends from Germany. Time differential being what it is, if I am up at that hour, we can chat back and forth for a few minutes about how the work is going and how much he is loving his mission.

Since he has had a nasty cold since Christmas, we have been worried for him and praying about him and his needs. The usual 3 a.m. time for emails arrived (which is 10 a.m. where Thomas is).

No emails.

I waited and dozed with one ear alert for the "you've got mail" ding. Nothing. Then pings for ads, political causes, pharmaceuticals that NO ONE needs and solicitations for real estate. I deleted them angrily.

10 mintues passed, then 20.

Then thirty.

Then an hour had gone by and still NO MAIL FROM THOMAS!!!

Noooooooooo! This can't be!

By this time, my minds eye pictured him prostrate in the bed with fever and chills or laying cold and with chattering teeth.

I began to pray. That isn't a simplistic thing for a mother. To pray for your child's welfare is a direct line to Father that is part of that bargain we make for taking on the responsibility to raise one of HIS children in this life.

Following my Amen, a warm and gentle quiet descended. Feeling calmer and most definately still concerned, the thought pressed upon me 'He is busy. Just wait . . ."

By the time it was 5 a.m. here, the gentle ding that heralded the arrival of an email roused me from my stupor. This time the ping wasn't an ad for generic medicine at low cost or a chance to get an unsecured credit card from Nigeria.

This time, the ping was him. Woo hoo!!

And, just like the calm voice of the Spirit had told me in my panic stricken and faithless worry, Thomas WAS busy. Doing what he was called and set apart to do. Gathering in the sheep from the wilderness and bringing them back to the fold.

I didn't go back to sleep but I certainly felt more peaceful and rested. Who can doubt that God hears the prayers of a desperate mother worried for her grown son who is in the employ of the Almighty?