I was working at my dining room table when Sarah came down the stairs and stood in the living room. I could tell she was anxious. She looked at me and shouted, “Amazon! Samantha! Store!”

I looked up from my computer and said, “Oh…okay.” I was wondering what she was trying to say. She loves American Girl dolls and maybe she wanted to look on Amazon for some Samantha toy?

Sarah immediately walked briskly to the door to the garage, opened it, and hit the garage door button. She likes to throw things into the recycling bin, so it took me a second to realize she had opened the garage door. I jumped up from my chair and went after her. By the time I got to the back door, Sarah was walking out of the garage.

I caught up to her at the sidewalk.

“Hey there, let’s go back inside.” I tried to coax her to turn around.

“NO! NO! NO!” Sarah yelled, pushing me away. She stomped down the sidewalk.

I caught up to her again and held her hand. This is when I realized I was bare foot, and I left my cell phone next to my computer on the table. I had no way to call for help.

“Honey, do you want to take a bath?” (Thinking of something she would love to do.)

Sarah continued to walk forcefully.

Seeing a fire hydrant ahead I told her, “Let’s walk to the fire hydrant.”  

When we got to the fire hydrant, I made her stop. “Oh! We left the garage door open, poor Samson (our dog) must be so worried about us!! We don’t want him to get out. Let’s go back.”

Sarah had a look in her eye that was determined. “NOOOOOOO!” she yelled, she pushed me away and she continued to walk.

I caught up to her again and put my arm around her waist. I saw the next fire hydrant up ahead and I tried again to see if I could get her to turnaround. No. She continued to push me away and walk ahead.

I then decided to let her continue to walk. I would walk her around the block and make a circle back to our house.

When we came to the street to make the turn back to our home, Sarah refused to turn. She yelled, “NO!” and ran across the street.

I caught up to her and I started to panic. Nothing was working. I kept praying short prayers of “Lord! Help me! Lord!! HELP!”

The next road was a major road outside our subdivision. I needed to stop her! I stood in front of her and clasped both of her hands and started to push her back.

“Sarah, it’s time for us to go back home. Let’s go take a bath.”

Sarah became very agitated and screamed, “NOOOOOOO!” and ran into the street. Thankfully, my neighbor had just driven by, but no other cars were around.

My neighbor saw what was happening, stopped, and turned around. She pulled up next to us in the street.

“Hey Sarah! Do you want a ride home?”

I was just thinking about how difficult it was going to be to get her back home as we were quite some distance from the house.

Sarah looked at her and climbed in the car. I hopped in the back seat.

I thanked my neighbor repeatedly and told her she was an answer to prayer. When we pulled into our driveway there was our dog anxiously waiting by the house door that was wide open.

“Hey Sarah, let’s take that bath.” Sarah walked into the house and headed upstairs. I filled it with some Epsom salts and lavender oil and when she was done, she very mellow and happy. I had my Sarah back.

David came home later that night from a business trip. I told him I was so shook up by this. I shudder to think what would have happened if my neighbor didn’t come.

I gave my all, but it wasn’t enough. How grateful I am that the Lord sent my neighbor to help me!

It reminds me of a time when we went out to dinner with my extended family. One of my twin nephews, who was no more than 4 years old at the time, announced he wanted to buy dinner for the whole family with his money. He brought all the money he had in the world.

It was 22 cents.

He proudly gave it all to the server and we all thanked him for his generosity. He beamed with pride!

Little did he know that the fathers each slipped away during the meal to pay for the remaining portions of the bill.

As I drove past that restaurant, the memory flooded back to me.

I told the Lord as I thought about Sarah, “It’s like I am giving my 22 cents, Lord. All I have, but I feel like it’s not enough.”

Then I smiled as I thought, “But my Heavenly Father goes behind the scenes and takes care of the rest!”

Thank you for praying for us on this journey! We are so grateful!

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19