An Answered Prayer

So I have been lamenting about this move we made to Virginia. I have had a pretty bad attitude about the whole thing for selfish reasons: my family is all back in Indiana, all my friends are in Indiana, I don't know anyone here. . . Please notice that all of these reasons begin with the word "I". Recently, I have been thinking about how self-centered I have been about this move. Yes, we moved because my husband wanted to; that's what it boiled down to, until something else occurred to me. On three different occasions, from three completely different people, I have heard the same thing: how glad they are that our daughter Gabby has moved here. The first time I heard it was from a mother of a little girl in Gabby's class. They had invited my daughter over to play for the afternoon, and this mother said how excited she was that her daughter wanted to invite a friend over. Her daughter is painfully shy, and the family was dreading this schoolyear. Along comes our little Gabby. New to the school, new to the state of Virginia, and open to everything. She started playing with this little girl, and now they are good little friends.


The second time I heard about our Gabby was from another mother of a little girl who had invited our daughter over to play. She said that her daughter had said how nice Gabby was to everyone, and she was glad they were in the same class. The third time I heard about our daughter was from her teacher. She said that Gabby is friendly and kind to everyone and is a real asset to the class and indeed to the whole school. Well, of course every mother wants to hear how great their kid is. I am very proud that my middle daughter is such a kind and friendly person, but the more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that this is something more.

Our daughter is the kind of kid to whom people are drawn. She looks like a chubby, sweet, cherub, has a twinkle in her eye, and has just plain nice personality. Until now, however; I never really looked at her for who she really is. She is someone who truly has a purpose here on earth. She was one of those "00ps" pregnancies that happened while I was on the Pill. We had only planned on having two children. She was a lovely baby and an easy toddler. She was popular in preschool, as well as in first grade. Second grade was a little tougher for her and friends were few and far between for some reason. She took this big move to Virginia in stride. After pondering all the why's about this move, it has become clear to me that the reason we moved may have had something to do with my husband, but it could also have been because a shy, lonely little girl living in Northern Virginia prayed every night for a friend. A friend who could accept her just the way she was. No matter that that little girl would be coming from Indiana! Maybe God is using our daughter in some small way. Maybe our daughter has become the answer to a faraway prayer. I believe that God answers prayers in unexpected ways, and Gabby may be one of those answers.