Home > A Community of Faith > Archives > 2009 > November > 04 > Entry
That Girl
Does anyone remember the 1960’s sitcom “That Girl” with Marlo Thomas? I loved that show! Each episode would begin with a teaser where an odd incident would occur or a discussion would foreshadow the episode’s story. The scene would always end with someone exclaiming, “That girl!” as Marlo Thomas would come into view.
In my own life there have been many times when I didn’t want to be “That Girl” or “That Friend.” One of the more memorable and traumatic times was just a few years after our son died when some of our good friends were experiencing their own personal crisis. Their four year old son, who ironically was named Zack just like my son, became very sick. He was shuffled from one hospital to another trying to diagnose his illness. Finally, it was determined that he had contracted e-coli. If you know anything about e-coli you know that it is very serious and for the most part is a waiting game as there is very little treatment for this sickness.
All through that experience I kept praying, “Lord, I don’t want to be “That friend.” I don’t want to be the friend that you’ve sent into their lives to help them through losing their son. I didn’t want their Zack to be like our Zack. I wanted their prayers to be answered and their son to be healed. I was sure that was why God had put us in their life. I thought to myself, no God. Don’t make me be THAT friend. I even started to wonder if that was how it was going to be from now on. Is every friend I have going to be someone who has a tragedy that I can be there for? Is that my new role in life? Who would want to be “That” friend?
Thankfully, I was wrong, as I so often am. As you might expect, God’s plan was completely different from what I had suspected. Thankfully, their prayers were answered! Their Zack was healed! It was a long, hard road and there were some days when the outcome was uncertain, but ultimately all of our prayers were answered. Today he is happy and healthy and more than fine!
Since then, I’ve reflected on that experience many times. I thought about how God’s plan was not the plan that I had imagined. What is interesting is that I think I had it all wrong. I think THEY were put in our life (instead of vice versa) to show us that God sometimes says yes…sometimes our prayers are actually answered. I think for a while after Zack died, I had started to wonder if He ever said yes. I thought about how through that experience God deliberately and gently reminded me that sometimes our prayers are answered with a resounding “yes.” I had temporarily forgotten that. I had started to question if the answer was ever going to be “yes” to anything I asked ever again. You know, that will happen sometimes if you have a series of things go wrong in your life. You’ll start to ask, “Where are you God? Do you hear me anymore? Are you ever going to answer Yes?” All I could think about was the “NO” that I had received when I offered my prayers up on behalf of my own “Zack” just a few years before.
If you ever get distressed about your situation or “That” role you think God has called you to play in someone else’s life, remember Isaiah 55:9 which reminds us that “God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” You may be pleasantly surprised to learn you are not always “That Girl.”
Comments
By r
November 5, 2009 10:50 AM | Link to this
this message is so true- Suz. are are just a blessing to us
when our plans are diffent from what God has planned in our life I guess it is then that we are THAT GIRL!!!