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It was beginning to get chilly and
Ruth said, "Timmy, get Sarah's sweater and take it out to her, she must be
getting cold, and tell her she has half an hour then she has to come
inside." Sarah's older brother was an obedient child and
without a thought just picked up his sister's sweater and started out the
door. It wasn't long until he was yelling, "Mom, Dad, come
here, hurry, I can't find Sarah!" Not only Mom and Dad but
every one there came running out of the house, they spread out in the edge
of the woods, thinking surely she was close enough that one of them would
see her, they begin calling out her name, and there was no reply.
Panic began to set in, especially with Ruth, mother's are usually the
first to panic when it comes to her children. She wanted to call 911
immediately but Sam said, "Now honey, wait a little while, she'll
show up. The whole family is out searching, how far could she of
gone, she knows she isn't allowed to go into the woods, she's just gotten
excited about a butterfly or some wild flowers or something that got her
mind off of home but she'll turn up. Just try to be patient."
They waited a while and others
began to talk of calling 911. It was really getting closer to being dark
and the temperature was dropping. Soon every one gathered back at
the house to decide what to do. First thing, Sam called the local
police department and they were there within minutes, then neighbors began
to show up, within the hour there was a TV camera and crew covering the
story. "Searching For Sarah."
So many people were there that the
police had to organize the search in shifts. People came from
communities all around the area. They searched in 2 hour shifts,
then came back to the camp that had been set up for them. While they
had hot coffee and soup, another shift would go out, and so on, for
several hours.
Some women in the community had set up
tables and had hot coffee and soup for the people that were helping.
It was heard said by one of the women serving, "It's times like this
that you know there are still some good people in this world."
They began to ask who wanted to join in with them in prayer, A
circle was formed with clasped hands and prayers began. Others
joined in the circle until there was too many for a circle so some were
inside the circle and some outside the circle, some were holding hands,
some were hugging each other, crying out to God to keep the little girl
safe and let her be found quickly.
The TV anchor woman had asked that
everyone under the sound of her voice to please say a prayer for Sarah and
her family. So hundreds of prayers bombarded the throne of God on
Sarah's behalf.
As the search went on, what seemed
like an eternity to Sarah's family....
Jesus
was still walking and talking with Sarah. They were looking at
beautiful ripples in the water and Sarah was laughing and happy, she'd
never known such excitement in her young life. As much fun as it was
to play with her brother Timmy and her sister, Sharon. This far
surpassed any happiness that had ever been in her life. She didn't
even think of going home then, she wanted to just stay with Jesus forever
and ever.
By now it was getting near 10
o'clock at night and panic was every where. People from other
communities were gathered in churches, there were candle light vigils,
Time was running out for little Sarah, if she wasn't soon found, she would
die. Surely by now hypothermia would of set in.
The police had brought in dogs and
Ruth found a shirt that Sarah had worn the day before and the dogs sniffed
the shirt and off they went, sniffing the ground as they went.
Emergency lights were set in place and one policeman asked to be allowed
to speak to the TV audience,
he was handed a microphone and he pleaded with the people to please stop
coming, there was so many there that they were hindering more than
helping. He thanked them kindly and said, "God bless you for
caring so much, but please, let us do our job. I promise you, we
will do everything in our power to find Sarah."
The crowds began to thin out, but
mostly they just went home and turned on the TV and kept up the prayers
for Sarah. It was as if every one looked at this as if it were their
own child. There were so many tears shed that night. So many
well wishers. So much of God's love so evident in the people who
were trying to help.
Couples that hadn't told their
children how much they loved them in a while, took time to thank God for
them and several just stood in their children's bedroom doorways and
watched them sleep with tears streaming down their faces out of love and
thankfulness that their children were safe in bed.
It was about 11 o'clock when the
news came that Sarah had been found. Actually she hadn't been so
very far into the mountains, but the lean to she had stumbled upon was not
easily seen and in the dark, it was probably passed by many times over
through the night of searching. But the dogs had sniffed around that
area and started barking and the searchers dared to hope. Was it Sarah,
could it really be her? They began running in the direction of the
sound of the dogs barking and sure enough, there, laying in some hay
sheltered from the wind and misty rain was little Sarah, near
death. They wrapped her in the coat of one of the searchers and brought her out
of the mountains to a waiting ambulance. Ruth and Sam got in with
her along with some paramedics and rushed her to the nearest hospital.
She was still alive but hope was
slim that she'd make it to the hospital. They had IV's flowing and were
doing all sorts of things to her that her Mother and Dad didn't
understand. They told them, "Just keep talking to her, if she hears
your voice it will help." They kept up a conversation with their
precious little girl the whole time until they got to the hospital, then
she was whisked away from them. They were left there holding onto
each other and crying, partly out of thankfulness that she was still alive
and partly because they were not sure she'd still be alive in the morning.
Their faith had always gotten them
through every situation in their lives so they clung to that faith
now. Their only hope for Sarah was that God was taking care of her
and would answer their prayers and the thousands of prayers that had
reached His throne. Little did they know just how much God really
was taking care of Sarah. So much so that He had sent his only Son,
Jesus to walk with her and play with her while she lay on that bed of
hay.
When her parents could finally go
into her room, the doctor told them that her body temperature had fallen
much below the 95 degrees, which is a signal that hypothermia could set in. He told
them to talk to her and just try to let her feel their love and
pray. He explained to them that children lose body heat much faster
than adults and she was exposed to the cold for a very long time. He
told them that she had drifted into a coma and there was just no way of
knowing how long that might last, or even if she would come out of it.
As they sat by her bedside, each of
them holding one of her little hands, they tried not to cry, they wanted
to make sure that if she could hear them, she would hear happy sounds and
she would know they were there for her and wanted her back with all their
hearts. A nurse brought in some children's books and Mom read to
her. Then Dad would talk to her about how much he loved his little
princess.
It was a long night but neither of
them left her side and neither of them drifted off to sleep, not even for a
moment. Ruth's parents were at home with the other children and some
relatives that had wanted to stay until they knew more of what was
happening with Sarah.
Light began to peek through the
blinds now and Sam opened them up to see that it was another day. Sarah
was still alive! She had made it through the night but she lay very
still and hadn't spoken a word. But she was alive! Their baby
had made it through the night and they joined hands and knelt down by her
bed to give God thanks for bringing her through the night.
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