Click the title of the song to view the YouTube video.

I do not know Charles Billingsley and his song , Lord, Have Mercy, but this phrase was what I uttered again and again when I picked up my daughter from the foot of our 7step stairs. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy!

ST and her nanny were still singing past midnight when I passed by the nanny's room. Jessa explained that our girl would not like to drink her milk or sleep without her mama beside her. My hubby slept ahead beside our little boy, while I opted to work overtime on the video presentation for ZT's dedication that Sunday. I was instructing Jessa from the sala to convince ST to drink her milk, but before I finished, ST sneaked out and ran towards the dark staircase. She got thrilled when the door opened and ran away from Jessa who was then holding the can of Gain and a water-filled, feeding bottle. I remember her calling my name before her frail body tumbled down like a rag doll. The vintage point from where I was seated was directly facing the stairs. I could have picked her up before she landed the marble floor, but my knees buckled and was unmoved by denial and fear. It was a face to face with possible unrepairable damages, or worse, a permanent loss. And, I was very afraid.

Is this really happening? Aaaaaaaahhh... Jessa screamed; I screamed; my husband who heard the commotion screamed. We were all screaming as if the house was on fire! ST, who finally landed with her head first, screamed the loudest. God was so good to have given me the strength to pick her up at once, but to see the blood oozing from her mouth scared out the remaining strength in me. I saw how her head bounced from step to step, dragging her arms from the side. It was difficult to let go of the memory. The awful fall caused two, huge lumps on her forehead, and one at the left, and another one at the back. I was distraught at the sight of her swollen face. My little darling cried out in pain while I applied on the 3 ice cubes which my right hand held tightly until we reached the ER. My husband prayed for a taxi on his way to the Subdivision's gate, and we were blessed with the best driver who drove really fast and safely to the hospital. He even went against the flow in his hazard lights until we reached the closest U-turn towards the hospital's avenue.

The whole time we were in the taxi, MP and I were praying aloud. Lord, have mercy on our daughter! I tried to calm down, to ask her if she's ok, but when she said "painful... I'm sorry", I broke down again. I remember not feeling anything with my right palm while holding the ice cubes. My eyes were filled with tears; my mind was filled with prayers. Oh Lord, have mercy!

A comic relief came to the rescue though. Still on the road to the hospital, I asked...

"Can you see me?"
"I cannot see! I cannot see, Mama!"
"Are you sure? Look at me, baby. "
"I cannot look! Aaah, painful!"
"Baby, look at Mama. Be brave! Be brave!"
"I cannot brave! I cannot brave!"

I felt like laughing, but I embraced her instead. I praised God that her eyesight was fine, but I praised Him more that her thoughts were coherent. She answered the way she would under ordinary circumstance.

We felt the Lord's favor following us. The CT scan and the chest xray's initial results were negative for fracture. The doctor recommended that she stays in the hospital for observation, but there was no room available yet. After a few minutes, MP returned with a good news that a suite is vacant, and apparently, it was the same room where ST and ZT spent last April when they were stricken with Pneumonia. Our medical card can only subsidize the first 24 hours of the suite, after which, we have to transfer to the maximum allowable room rate which is a regular private. We were lined 7th in the private room reservation, and had a vacancy only in the late afternoon of Monday. We were grateful. We expected to pay for the excess of the remaining hours plus the additional xray for ST's forehead when the doctor felt a dent on both wounds. But, to our surprise, the card covered everything except for the nebulizer kit, cold pack and hot bag. All in all we only paid Php190 out of the Php18,000 total hospital bill. Jehovah Jireh & Rophei did it again! God answers the cries of His children. God's mercy endures forever!

Time and time again, we experience the hand of God carrying us through inevitable trials, proving to us that the only way to go is through letting go and letting God. ST's life is so precious to me and my hubby, but we have to remind ourselves that she is God's precious one, too. She is safest in the hallow of His hands.


P/S
Charles Billingsley really ministered to me with his soothing and beckoning voice.
Take time to listen to Kyrie: Lord, Have Mercy.