Concussions and ER Visits and the Kindness of God

Yesterday didn’t go like I had imagined.
Surprised by the nurse’s phone call around 9:15am telling me Josh had suffered a head injury in phy ed class, I was asked to come right away.

Waiting at a stoplight on my route, an ambulance turned in front of my path heading to the school. I remember praying for God’s help as I realized it was likely for him.
How quickly things happen.
Arriving at the school, the ambulance was indeed there for Josh; he was agitated, thrashing & disoriented.
A collision of significant impact had left him confused, , complaining of head & eye pain, and not able to remember anything about the incident or much else.
He was distraught and the kind paramedic had to talk him down so he wouldn’t hyperventilate.
Ambulance ride to the hospital.
5+ hours in the ER.
CT scan, EKG gives abnormal reading.
Echocardiogram.
Pediatric Cardiologist.
Medical care, skill and compassion surround this young man still asking (repeatedly!) "What happened? Who hit me?, Is Logan okay?…Am I okay?"

And in the midst of all this….God.
In the kindness of the nurse putting her hand on my shoulder & comforting me.
In the technology of medical tests which helped identify and rule out further complications.
In decades of knowledge acquired which now diagnose & treat my son’s situation.
And most noticeable to me, most profoundly reflecting God’s care to this mom’s heart.
In the friendship & support of those who ‘gathered’ around me in love.
(Most of it ‘figurative gathering’, but supporting me, nonetheless.

How?
• At the onset, on my drive to the school…God.  His peace, comfort & invitation to pray (which I did) assured my troubled heart that this day was in His plan, His control, and He would grant me His strength for whatever would transpire.
I rejoiced in His friendship, the precious relationship I enjoy w/Him, most important of all.

• In that same brief drive (before knowing anything), the conversation w/Jon who immediately joined me in thought & prayer, support & strength, offering to come ('Do you want me to, Honey?') and assuring me of his prayers & his willingness to be there in a moment, even when I told him to stay put.

• In the drive later to the hospital, the friend who I immediately knew I could call, who would be there in whatever way I needed her, who came to the ER w/support, a thinking mind (should mine go AWOL), a can of pop & half her lunch, and a smiling face to distract & talk w/Josh as we waited. The same friend who left her cell phone when mine died & accompanied me to the final cardiologist appt of the day.

• In another friend who texted me, not knowing what had happened, but offered her support & help however needed. And then concluded with her intent to pray.

And finally, in a friend I had not yet met…

• The mother of the other boy (the one who Josh ran into at school), she had located my phone number, left a message on my phone, words filled w/compassion, comfort, assurances of her prayers, and a request to please call with an update when I could. This same woman, a stranger to me but who’s son was a good friend of Josh’s, then brought soup & kind words in person. In our entryway conversation, she sympathized with the turmoil of my day, empathized with the thoughts & fears of a mother’s heart, and both of us concluded assuring the other of God’s hand in it all.

Josh is home now. A concussion that is now yesterday’s news.
But the goodness of God, the kindness of His heart, was displayed in its outworking.
And that is true in this day, as we thankfully reflect that it wasn’t more serious.
But it would equally be true even if things would’ve turned out much more seriously…or tragically.

God’s goodness & kindness are especially displayed in times of sorrow.
Because that’s the kind of compassionate, caring, all-powerful God that He is.
God hasn’t promised to fix all things broken (That’s simply not the plan for this life!)
But He does promise to walk with us & uphold us through it all.

And sometimes He does this through the hands, hearts & love of others.
Thank you ,God, for your many kindnesses.