By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
About five years ago my hubby and I were looking for something to watch on TV, when he came upon a program about historic floods that had happened in the US. We quickly became interested and they had shared some heartbreaking stories of lives lost, but also heroic acts that reportedly took place during these events.
One account in particular deeply touched my heart.
Now I didn’t hear all the details but many years ago a woman along with her 12 year old daughter and young son were caught in the midst of quickly rising flood waters.
They literally ran for their lives in an attempt to reach safety but the woman and daughter quickly became stuck in a push of deep mud that preceded the rushing water.
And when they both realized that they were not going to make it in time they made a decision to try and save the toddler.
In one last act of desperation they each grabbed hold of the baby, one holding his arms, the other his legs, and with all their combined might they slung him towards higher ground.
Sadly, the mother and daughter perished but as recorded, after 30 minutes, eyewitnesses at the scene were able to pull the baby out of the mud, head first, mouth full of dirt, but, as incredible as it may seem …. alive and well.
The program then switched to the child, now a grown man in perhaps his thirties, who testified of his knowledge gained from these same witnesses and authorities who were present at the time.
Now, as I watched this story unfold two things came to mind.
My first thought was, “what an unselfish act on the part of this mother and daughter!!!” Instead of accepting complete defeat, with their own lives in peril, they didn’t make a choice to die together as a family, but rather chose to come together to try and save another human being’s life.
Next, a scripture came to mind, “… casting all your care upon the Lord for He cares for you.” I began thinking about how this is worded in the Bible. God didn’t say “to gently place” our cares, or “lay” them down before Him, or even “hand” them over to Him.
He deliberately said to “cast” them!” It literally means to “toss or throw.”
I know this is a broad spectrum that I’m dealing with here, but in our own lives, there are people and things that we care about- family-marriages- friends-jobs-relationships and on and on.
Now sometimes there are physical things we must do, take action (like the mother and daughter had to physically throw the baby toward safety for him to reach it), but at the same time, trusting that the Lord cares for us.
When we toss the care of that “situation” over to Him, we must also believe that He WILL catch it. But we first have to make a decision in our hearts to let go of it and truly “cast it!!”
I don’t know about you, but many times I feel like after I’ve cast a care then I immediately begin to doubt that the Lord will catch it, maybe it was a bad throw on my part, so I run and try to grab it back in mid air.
Or that it’s a wobbly toss that gets stuck in the mud.
But the Lord is rich in mercy and is abounding in love and grace. Trust in His goodness and His willingness to direct it towards you!!
Sometimes we, ourselves, are that “care” and if that’s you, and you feel like you’re sinking in a mire of mud with flood waters rising in. Call out to Jesus with all your heart and let Him take care of you.
“… God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.’ 1 Peter 5:5-7 NKJV
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
