If I'm going to blow away....

A friend sent me this email today. I have felt a lot like this, and I know some of my blogging friends have too, so I thought I would share....

I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in
whom I trust."(Psalm 91:2)

It was a windy day in the Midwest. My children
and I were out on a day of errands. Most of the day had been spent in the
protection of buildings built close together. But, our last stop put us at a
store that was all by itself at the edge of town. As I parked the van, the
wind made it sway slowly from side to side. On the count of three, we put our
heads down and barged into the outdoors. Once outside, my daughter ignored my
outstretched hand and, instead, wrapped both her arms around the top of my
leg. "If I'm going to blow away," she said, shouting above the wind, "I
want to blow away with you!" The wind was more than she could withstand. It
had knocked her down twice that day already. She had resigned herself to the
fact that the wind may, indeed, totally sweep her off her feet at some
point. I hobbled all of us into the store. Once inside, I squatted to her
level. "Did you really think that the wind would blow you away?" I asked as I
tried to untangle her long, blonde hair for the 1,000 time that day. "Yes,
Mommy," she said bluntly. "But if you came with me, I wouldn't care." What
she did not know was that I was feeling as if life was about to blow me away.
The pressures and stresses were like the wind outside – turning what should have
been a sunny, wonderful day into a climate in which I could barely stand. For
months, I had felt like at any minute, I may be knocked down by the sheer force
of it. When she wrapped her arms around me with complete faith in my
ability to get us through the wind, she reminded me that I, too, had someone to
cling to in times like these. Most of all, she reminded me of the child-like
faith with which I can hold on.

Prayer From a Mother's Heart
Dear God, help my child to cling to you in times of joy and in times of trouble
throughout her life.