I want to tell what God did tonight. It was after 2:00 in the morning, and I’d finally got both my daughter and my husband into their beds and said goodnight, and smeared their foreheads and wrists with lavender oil. My daughter’s bed is the couch tonight, so I was sneaking around, trying to be silent as I set a diffuser with one of the oils she favors. I had just turned on my iphone’s flashlight when she said something. I leaned over the back of the sofa to hear her, and suddenly there was a man’s voice next to me. I jumped, shaking the phone. A voice memo app had opened and one of the recordings had started playing. I slapped the button to stop the recording just as I recognized that the voice was Les Granier.

“Hello, this is Les. I was wondering if y’all were coming by. Please have Victor call me…”

I stared at her then at the phone, mouth agape. I said that I must have “butt-dialed” a recording of Les. I couldn’t understand how it happened. It required 3 layers of touching the exact spot to open the group, open the app, and choose the memo. Then the “play” arrow, right at the precise moment I leaned over the couch and looked into her eyes. Her face was priceless. Such a change from the last hours, days, weeks full of unbearable stress and teenage angst. Now, there was a peacefulness in her smile that I could see even in the dim light of the cell phone. I realized that the app was recording a new memo of me realizing and being astonished by what was happening! I do not know how it was possible that I could have touched the screen in the sequence that would start a new recording. Not possible, I say. Except… God.

I want to tell you, I don’t even know where that app is on my phone. I looked for it later but couldn’t find it. I had to check the recently used apps, then I got to listen to the recording of me realizing that I had somehow inadvertantly opened the group, opened that memo app, opened that recording, and hit play. It’s an unrealistic scenario created by an unreasonably benevolent God.

Wynter was just smiling though. She didn’t move or say a word; she just lay there smiling. A beautiful, wonderful smile. I asked her if she wanted to hear it again. There was actually another recording, in which Les’ voice said “I just need a couple of minutes” and she laughed. “That’s not true. He never only needed a couple of minutes.” I played it again. And again. Her peaceful smile slowly turned into heart-wrenching grief. She pressed her face into her fluffy blanket. Giant teardrops plopped down on the back of the couch as I reached over to stroked her hair and back, trying to comfort a void that cannot be filled on earth.

I sat down to write this, not wanting to let another miracle fade from memory before making a record of the details. On a whim I opened email. Any messages about the Bible Study that starts in six hours could have waited. But I checked. On a second whim, I opened an email from Ever Thine Home; a blog post by Barbara Rainey called Heart Identity Matters. She recalled a prayer written when a young, overwhelmed mother:

Father, I pray you will teach me more about my identity and my call as a mom. Teach me too the value of that call because so much of my work is inside these walls – unseen and immeasurable.

God continues to amaze me. I took heart in her encouragement:

To all of you moms who are losing sleep, staying home with sick kids, giving the best years of your life to your children, wondering if you will ever have time to yourself again hear me say, you matter!

Believe God sees and is taking account of your labors of love. Believe my word of encouragement and belief that your investment in your kids, even though you are unseen and have no great following, is more important than likes.

Barbara Rainey, EverThineHome.com

“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you!”

Matthew 6:4

And who will play a memo in the middle of the night with a voice from heaven to comfort a distressed, sleepy girl. And who will comfort her far more than even a mom could. And who gave this mom the memory of that peaceful face, and a voice memo to remind me!