God's Wake-Up Call

Every Christmas when we put up lights I'm reminded of my wake-up call several years ago. From my bed I looked over at the alarm clock that read 2:00 am. My mind went to the Christmas lights and inflatable snowman in the front yard the kids and I put up earlier that day. A strong sense came over me to look out my daughter's front window to ensure no fire danger from the lights. I wanted to stay comfortable under the warm covers, but a persistent thought nudged me to look outside.

Plodding down the hallway to my daughter's room I peered out the window to look at the lights, but immediately my attention went to the empty driveway. Where my large eight passenger SUV was usually parked. Shocked that my car was stolen I hurried to my bedroom to nudge my husband from his deep sleep, while I grabbed my cell phone to call the police.

Meanwhile my husband noticed that the front door was unlocked indicating that someone in my family may have left the house. Suspecting our oldest daughter I went to her room to investigate. Under her covers were pillows lined up that deceived me into thinking she was asleep.

When I called my daughter on her cell phone she confessed that she had driven the SUV across town to her friend's house. My daughter had just turned sixteen, but still had not taken any driving courses nor been behind the wheel of a car that I knew of, let alone my huge Suburban.

Calling the police back to tell them that it was my daughter who stole my car I was faced with a decision. The dispatcher asked, "Do you still want to file a report?" Upon gathering more information from the police my daughter could be taken out of the vehicle at gun-point. I thought, this might teach her a lesson. Then I considered the worse case scenario, what if she was shot on accident by a police officer.

I decided to cancel the report but give the police the address where my daughter was parked unable to start the car due to a dead battery. Two police cars were at the location when my husband and I arrived. My daughter was in the back of one car and her friend in the other. When the police asked me what I wanted to do, I contemplated sending her to juvenile hall knowing she needed a severe consequence. Stealing a car was a felony and this incident would permanently mark her record.

After careful consideration and prayer I made no official charges against her, but gave her the consequence of not getting her driver's license until she was eighteen. She reminded me over the next two years when I drove her around town that I suffered from her consequence more than she did. How often that is true, as parents the tough choice to discipline our children usually involves that we pay the inconvenience of their consequence.

Deep down I knew she paid for not having the freedom to drive where she wanted when she wanted. As hard as it was I stuck to my decision and we both paid the price for her wrong doing. She learned a lesson: her choices impacted others.

I marvel at how God woke me up to take care of my little girl. I praise Him for what He has done in her life and our relationship as I set boundaries and communicated love with consequences. I always pray that my children will get caught when disobedient. This way they can suffer a consequence for a bad choice instead of getting away with something and never learning a lesson at a young age, possibly suffering a more severe consequence later in life.

Often with my hormones changing in my mid-forties I peer over at my clock in the early morning hours. It's my wake-up call to pray for my children. I stand in front of their rooms, after checking their beds, to pray specifically for their protection, good choices, godly character, and that I will have wisdom on how to raise and train my children in the ways of the Lord.

When God wakes you up, what will you do?