Isaiah 41:10
Don’t be afraid. I am with you.
Don’t tremble with fear.
I am your God.
I will make you strong,
as I protect you with my arm
and give you victories.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
On a recent edition of ABC’s 20/20,
I heard the story of 12-year-old Payton Leutner, who was stabbed 19
times on May 31, 2014, by two classmates who had invited her for a
sleepover in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The morning after celebrating the
12th birthday of one of the girls, they invited Payton to join them for a
game of “hide-and-seek” in the woods. Payton reluctantly went along,
and soon one of the girls was sitting on her and holding her down, while
the other stabbed her in an attempt to kill her. This was all a plot
by these two young girls to do something they thought would please
“Slender Man”, a fictitious online character who supposedly lives in the
woods in a mansion. These girls convinced themselves that Slender Man
is real, and that they would commit this murder, and then escape into
the woods to find him and his mansion...and live there forever.
In
a story of heroics (and an untold story of God’s grace), Payton Leutner
willed herself to live. She crawled out of the woods to a sidewalk-like
trail in the park that had been blocked off to the public with a
chain. Remarkably, a bicyclist chose to ignore the signs and chain and
take this trail on that very morning, and he discovered little Payton
lying in the grass - clinging to life. Doctors told her parents, Joe
and Stacie Leutner, that one of the stab wounds missed Payton’s heart by
less than a hair’s breadth. Had this wound been less than a millimeter
farther in one direction, it would have been almost instantly fatal.
When
Stacie Leutner first saw Payton in the hospital, she said that she was
very pale. Stacie told ABC news anchor David Muir that Payton put her
hand out, and she rushed over to her. She said, “I put my arms around
her and I laid next to her, and I hugged her and I said, ‘You're gonna
be okay. It's gonna be fine.’" As the doctors and nurses wheeled
Payton away for surgery, her mother told her that she loved her...and
that she would be okay.
Virtually any mother would have said and
done the same thing. But Stacie Leutner could not be sure that her
reassurances were accurate. She really didn’t know with certainty that
Payton would be okay...that the surgeon and his team could repair all of
the damage. Truthfully, Joe and Stacie Leutner do not know yet whether
Payton will fully recover mentally and emotionally. She seems to be
doing well...but who knows what long-term effects such a traumatic
experience will have on this child. Still, in the moment, reassurance
was all they had...and it’s all they have now as they hope and pray that
Payton truly won’t suffer any lasting damage.
You and I often
face situations that are fraught with opportunities for fear to take
over. We receive unsettling news...we face challenges of a physical,
mental or emotional nature...we have cause to worry to the point of
making ourselves sick! And in all of these circumstances, God says,
“Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Don’t tremble with fear. I am your God.
I will make you strong, as I protect you with my arm and give you
victories.” The difference between these words as spoken by a mortal
parent and those of our Heavenly father is important. Our earthly
parents want this to be so...they hope that the outcome will be as they
spoke of it. But God guarantees His promises! When He says that He will make us strong and give us victories, we can count on Him to make it happen!
I
would bet that at one time or another in our lives, every single one of
us heard our parents tell us that everything would be alright...and we
believed them – even when a small part of us might have known that they
could not be sure they were speaking the truth. So why would we doubt
or question God when He promises to heal us and give us strength and
victory? Don’t we know that God’s word is infallible? Don’t we believe
that God’s promises are steadfast and certain?
One of the
hardest things for Payton Leutner to process has been the knowledge that
her two friends meant to kill her. She is still wrestling with this
profound betrayal. And her parents acknowledge that they are concerned
for these two little girls and their families. But they believe that
Payton was rescued for a reason...that she is here for a purpose and
meant to do something special. Perhaps God is using this little girl
and her story to remind parents to pay a little closer attention to what
their children are doing...and to remind us of His presence and power.
Where
is God telling you today that He will heal you...protect you...make you
strong and give you victories? Do you trust Him and believe His
promises? Isn’t it time you did? How would your life be different if
you “let go and let God” have control? Wouldn’t you like to find out?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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