Article January 6, 2020 Issue

Walk, don’t run, and wait on God

Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen

When our boys were preschool age, their day-care center was close enough for us to walk there from our home. One day after dropping the boys off, I got a call from the director. She sounded worried, telling me that our older son wasn’t feeling well and that I should come pick him up right away. She wasn’t one to call about a minor situation, so I hung up the phone and literally ran out the door in a panic. I am not a runner even on the best of days, and the running made me feel even more panicky.

Whenever there is a need for healing in any area of my life, I pray, and I was trying to do just that by acknowledging that God was with our son at that very moment—that he was safe and cared for and loved. While I didn’t yet feel the words, or spiritual truths, that I was silently affirming, I knew they were true.

About halfway to the day-care center, I heard in my thought a gentle-but-firm reprimand, as though it were being spoken aloud: “If you know this is true, then why are you running?”

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