Navigating Atlanta's highways requires finesse... a level of finesse I did not possess after becoming a mother. Normal anxious thoughts reach a fever pitch when coupled with lack of sleep.
I outran reason every time I thought of getting on the highway and commuting to work with my little one. The fear of experiencing a car crash was not paralyzing but still debilitating. "God, help me."
***
A few days later I entered a church for a community event. With my daughter in arms, I read from a children's bible that laid on the pew. The passage I chose described God's ability to protect us from harm, and said, "...even when we travel on the road for a long time, God is protecting us." I chuckled.
I knew He had heard my prayer.
I left the event freer after that encounter with truth. But there was still a layer to unpack.
A few more days later a memory sprang up. A childhood car accident. A man sped through a red light and hit my family's minivan in an intersection. We left the accident scene physically fine... but obviously I had been living with an unseen fracture for decades.
God took me back to that memory and showed me where the Holy Spirit was in the scene. My family is protected.
***
Through daily examination, our healing requires:
1) a request for help (demonstrating a willingness to receive it),
2) a "freeing" encounter with the truth measured by its identification with the nature (goodness) of God, and
3) a renewing ("retelling") of the places where God felt most absent.
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