“GO CHECK ON WENDI!” Darlene Joy Nichols
When our
oldest daughter, Wendi, was five, she attended morning kindergarten class. One
day I sent her to school, then readied our two younger children to go
shopping. I felt rushed because it
usually took over two hours to do my grocery shopping, and I wanted to be done
in time to pick up Wendi from school.
So, with my shopping list in one hand and my two preschoolers in the
other, I set off for the store.
About 20
minutes later I had a clear thought interrupt me: Darlene, go check on
Wendi. I thought to myself, How
silly! Wendi is fine at school. I dismissed the thought and went about my
shopping. A short time later the thought
came back again. Darlene, go check on
Wendi. The thought came so clearly that
I stopped in the middle of a grocery store aisle.
Looking
at my shopping list and at my two young children, who would not be patient much
longer, I reasoned to myself, this is silly! I’m sure Wendi is fine. I continued down the aisle and turned the
corner when the words came forcefully yet again: Darlene, go check on Wendi!
I told a
clerk I’d be back for my groceries and rushed from the store. As we left, I noticed a severe thunderstorm
had come up. Wendi was terrified of
thunderstorms. Still, I knew she was
safe at school. Nevertheless, I began to
worry that something terrible might have happened. I hurried to the school only to find
everything calm. Nothing seemed out of
the ordinary, and even the storm was passing.
I was confused and thought perhaps I wouldn’t go inside after all. But after making the effort to get there, I
decided I should at least walk to the classroom and reassure myself that all
was well.
I turned
the corner to Wendi’s classroom and saw the door was open and Wendi standing in
the doorway. How odd! Why wasn’t she at her desk? As I approached her she seemed just fine and
had a smile on her face. I didn’t know
what to say, so I just bent down and gave her a hug.
“Mommy,
I knew you’d come!” she said.
With
that her teacher came over to us and said, “How did you know to come?” Then she
explained that the thunder and lightning storm had upset the class. As she tried to gather the children to sit
together on a carpet, she noticed Wendi at her seat praying. When Wendi
finished, she told her teacher that she was all right, that she had asked
Heavenly Father to send her mommy to her, and could she please wait by the
door.
I could
not stop my tears as I realized the prayer of faith of a five-year-old had
literally moved me from grocery store five miles away to be at her side. I am deeply grateful to Heavenly Father for
this experience, for we both learned divine lessons about faith and trust that
day (Ensign, 2001).
How important was it for Wendi to have a mom close to the
spirit?
