Vacation, #2: Advice shows up in the oddest places (and people)

Halle was a sick little girl last week. She had pink eye in both eyes, and infections in both ears. She had nasty mucus coming out of her nose and eyes, at the same time. She's on an antibiotic now, and seems to getting back to her normal, crazy, self.

But at the lowest pit of her illness, Halle ended up blessing Michelle and me in a huge way. I think it was Wednesday, and Michelle and I were both struggling pretty bad with how this week was playing out. We had serious doubts that we were going to get up to State College for a wedding on Saturday. And we were, quite honestly, none too happy about it. As Halle was sitting in her seat eating a snack, she pointed to the wall and said, 'Daddy, read.'

The frame she pointed to said the following (which I have posted here before):

"Surely if He would not spare His own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever He should, after this, deny or withold from His people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them."

She has pointed to that frame many times, but it had been a couple of months since she had done so. What timing! It was just what I needed to hear. We had thought our vacation was going to be a time of comfort and relaxation, but it wasn't. Yet Halle's pointer finger and sick little voice saying, 'Daddy, read,' was God's way of reminding me that God would not withold ANY comfort from me and Michelle that was good for us. And the rock-solid foundation of this promise was the death of His beloved Son for our sins. If a comfortable vacation is what we had needed, then God would have granted it. He didn't, so obviously it wasn't what was best for us.

So thanks, Halle, for reminding your daddy of some precious truth about our Savior. I hope in the years to come, I'll teach her the very same truth!