He will cover you with His wings

Jasmijn tells the story:

“It was a Friday night. I was at home, alone with our three children Jonas (7), Bram (6) and Karalien(13 months) and also Bastian, a friend of Jonas. Wouter, my husband, was gone for the entire week-end. I was tidying up on the first floor while the four children were playing downstairs. Then Bram came upstairs to play, soon followed by Jonas and Bastian. It flashed through my mind I should go get Karalien. She likes to follow the boys and has recently started crawling up the stairs… I should have listened to Father’s warning!

A couple of minutes later I hear the boys screaming: “KARALIEN IS FALLING!!” I hear a rumbling on the stairs. I hurry through the room to the hallway and staircase, pushing the boys aside and rushing down the stairs I see Karalien lying on her back at the bottom, crying at the top of her lungs. Without thinking I pick her up, pray in tongues, try to comfort her and check for injuries. All sorts of thoughts rush through my head: ‘phew, she cries’, ‘an angel must have caught her’, ‘she doesn’t have more pain when I touch her’, ‘I see no external injury’… meanwhile I try to calm down the boys who are very upset and worried… they saw her tumbling down.

Within a few minutes Karalien quiets down and starts playing happily. I am mentally reassured but my heart is still pounding. I decide to call Ann for medical advice, after all my 13 month old daughter tumbled down a flight of 16 wooden stairs with a 90°bend (low in the bend is a corner point of a stone windowsill).

Ann doesn’t seem very reassured. Brain lesions can still occur after a couple of hours or even days after such a serious fall. I really have to watch Karalien closely, preferably waking her up every two hours to check if everything is ok and she is reacting normally, but how to do that with such a small child?! If it is not the case I need to take her to E.R. So much for my rest…

Of course God is taking care of Karalien, and we pray together for her and the boys. Well I had asked for medical advice, but I didn’t think this advice was very reassuring… quite on the
contrary!

I call the family doctor, his advice is the same as Ann’s. I need to get rid of my emotions, so I first call Wouter and then my mother. My mother is rather alarmed. She insists I call one of the
neighbors or someone in the village. Suppose Karalien is not well during the night and I need to take her to the hospital, then what to do with the other three children?! I have the same line
of thought, I go over all the options. Maybe I better warn the neighbors… but then I clearly feel God’s presence: “Karalien is completely ok. Will you put your trust in Me or in others?” I choose to discard all doubt, notify no one and trust our Father.

I put my matrass next to Karalien’s bed, this way it is easier to keep an eye on her during the night. At 9:30pm I wake her up for the first time. I take her in bed with me… that wasn’t the
smartest thing to do. Soon she is wide awake, laughing merrily and just having a ball! Forget sleeping! The good thing about it? By 10 o’clock any remaining doubt is completely gone. Karalien reacts, very definitely! I put her back in her own bed! I sleep in the same room, but I admit I don’t sleep well.
I set the alarm just once for 2 am, I quickly check her breathing and give her a gentle push to see her reaction. It’s all right. By then I am so tired I just ask Father to wake me up if anything is wrong. I woke up just once more that night and just listened to her breathing, it sounded ok.
We slept the rest of the night.

The next morning my mother told me that she too was suddenly at peace with the whole situation at about 10 o’clock!

Looking at Karalien the next few days, it was hard to believe what had happened. The two small red spots on her head were already gone the next day. All what remained was a small bruise and a tiny scratch on her thigh.

Thank you Father!