By David Carter
Columnist

Arriving home one winter evening, my wife frantically ran to my truck saying Tricia, our 8-year-old daughter, was missing. “I’ve called and called and can’t find her,” my wife said.

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “We’ll find her.” Most dads think they can fix any problem and make everything right.

Around 6:30 p.m., we went to ask every neighbor. No one had seen her. At 7 p.m. I began searching the woods, yelling, “Tricia! Tricia! It’s Daddy!” I continued looking at 8 p.m., and by 9 p.m., I still hadn’t found her.

About this time, a terrible dread and fear encompassed by whole being. My imagination ran wild.

Had she been abducted by someone? Was she hurt and unable to make it home? It was a cold night — what about hypothermia?

At my wit’s end, I began fervently to pray: “Father, I have done all I can. I can’t find her. Please, Father, bring her home.”

A few minutes later, I saw a small figure walking out of the cold, dark woods. It was Tricia, crying and scared to death. What a relief! It was like someone had pulled a hot iron from my heart.

Thank you, Lord. Tricia had come home.

When we awake each morning, we don’t know what’s in store for that day. My daughter Tricia is now 40. Recently, she felt a lump on her breast.

The doctor performed a mammogram and ultrasound, finding a growth the size of an egg, with tentacles resembling an octopus, and the doctor confirmed it is cancer. We are now waiting for all the tests to be completed so treatment can begin.

It seems life has come full circle, and I now have the same emotions I had when Tricia was lost in the woods. I can’t do anything except the most important thing: Pray to our heavenly Father, who loves her more even than I do. I can only pray that He will be with her, strengthen her with His grace and heal her according to His will.

Oh, how I yearn to see my little girl walk out of the cold, dark woods.

Psalm 30:5 — “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

David Carter is the owner of Brandon House Furniture store on W. Washington Street. He can be reached at BrandonHouseFurniture@verizon.net.