It was 7pm and dinner was still not ready! I was working in the hot kitchen as the children were running all over the house and yard.
“This just does not work!” I lamented to Areli, my oldest daughter. “It is simply too late to be eating supper.”
How did it get so late, and why was I so unprepared today?
“It is alright, Mommy” she said sweetly as she helped.
I was putting the finishing touches on chicken chili (why did I decide to make soup on such a hot day?) when I heard a voice behind me.
“Mom! Mom!”
I turned around and to see a face I hadn’t seen in four months. The grown-up, handsome face of my oldest son, Cole. It took a few seconds to register in my brain. Then I rushed to hug him, and hugged him, and hugged him, and hugged him some more.
He had just graduated from his Marine MOS training school that morning. We had all texted him congratulations, and his only reply was that he was off to his next duty station. He had told us earlier in the month that he didn’t have enough time to come see us, and that it could be quite a while before he did. Little did we know that he had bought a car and had gotten enough leave to drive home. Areli knew all about it and had been in communication with him the entire time. My heart was so happy, so thrilled, so blessed that I couldn’t put my emotions into words. Suddenly I was thankful that dinner was so late and I simply said.
“Cole, you are just in time for supper!”
That Saturday we decided to take the whole family to Little Buffalo for a picnic. We had many happy memories of day trips and camping trips there, and it was a beautiful day! As we started the journey in our 12 passenger van, my heart was overflowing. Our van was full, and I was so thankful that all 12 members of our family were together again. I sent up a little prayer.
“I would really love to see an eagle today since we are all together and Cole is here, since Cole is an eagle too.”
About five minutes pasted. We drove across the Susquehanna River and there it was. A big black bird. Flying across the road right in front of us. It had a white head!
It was a bald eagle!
“There is an eagle!” I screamed 5 times as I pointed frantically. Most of the children saw it before it flew out of sight. Cole didn’t spot it, and he started laughing at me. The other children looked at me strangely and someone said, “Mom, I don’t think I have ever seen you so excited!”
“I was definitely more excited to see Cole when he came home…but you guys don’t understand! I just prayed and asked God to see an eagle today. Literally 5 minutes ago I asked Him, and there was an eagle!”
Chris had just been telling me how he had to drive this route many days to deliver packages. It was a lovely drive. But he had never seen an eagle before. The rest of the day I spend in gratitude and wonderment. Why would God so quickly answer my frivolous little prayer? What had I done to deserve to be surrounded by such beautiful and handsome faces?
These people made up my whole world, all my hopes and dreams. They are large portions of my heart walking around outside of my body.
They are all so precious, so special, and so important to me. They were all here together on this perfect day. Finally we had to head home, clean up and make supper. The perfect day was fading into twilight, and I wanted to hold on to it.
Cole would be leaving for his first duty station soon. Would our entire family ever be in our van together again? I began to worry. It is easy for a mother to worry. So many details for each child. So many hurdles stand between them and accomplishing their destinies. Sometimes one of those hurdles is me! (Did I check all their school papers? Did I look that child in the eyes today and see his heart? Will this one overcome my bad parenting techniques in the past?) A hundred fears began to pop up their ugly heads, and I began to play whack-a-mole with them in my mind. Not a fun game because they just keep popping back up again.
Finally I remembered that God had just shown me an eagle.
He had done that twice before, and both times He had used the eagle sighting to tell me something very important. The first time was in response to a very specific prayer of mine. He showed me that I do hear His voice, He does hear my voice, and that He created me to be a spiritual eagle. (Details in “A Hawk, A Vulture,and an Eagle” Part 1 and Part 2.)
The second time I was on a long drive and He told me that I could trust Him with my Children and that He loved me more than I could imagine. Then I saw the eagle. Right at that moment this scripture came on the Bible CD I had been listening to.
So don’t lose your confidence. It will bring you a great reward. You need endurance so that after you have done what God wants you to do, you can receive what he has promised.
“Yet, the one who is coming will come soon. He will not delay.
The person who has God’s approval will live by faith. But if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him.”
We don’t belong with those who turn back and are destroyed. Instead, we belong with those who have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 10:35-39 (God’s Word)
It was clear that these fears had no place in my life.
God loved me, He was holding my husband and my children in His hands, and had given me the faith I needed to stand firm with confidence. Then I was reminded of something He had been showing me a few weeks ago. Frankly I had kinda forgotten about it, because it was just too hard to wrap my brain around, so against my normal way of living. However, this third eagle sighting had convinced me that this was truly a message from God that I had to believe and attempt to live.
grace is my superhero 