“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

“….your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Almost five years ago to the day, one year old baby girl Sarah tripped and fell on her mouth, pushing one of her front teeth back up into her gums.  I was going through a time of serious depression, trying so hard to take care of my family while fighting exhaustion and anxiety, both spiritual and mental.  I was running on empty and this just added to my sadness and stress.

We immediately called the doctor about her tooth but the doctor said it was the dentist’s job and the dentist didn’t return our call (it happened in the evening after hours).  The next morning Sarah was acting like nothing had ever happened and was happy, so, with my eyes puffy with crying,  I proceeded with my own doctor’s appointment that had been scheduled for weeks and Rich didn’t want me to miss.

While I was there at the clinic, I had a friendly nurse asking all about the children, so I opened my phone (flip phone!) to show her a photo of my seven young offspring.  The first picture to appear was of poor Sarah’s mouth and the injured tooth, so I ended up explaining what had happened to the nurse.

She right away wanted to give me a referral to a wonderful pediatric dentist.  She knew of him because he came to the clinic often to do dental services (his office was in another town half an hour away).  She walked me out to the desk after my appointment to get me his number and just at that moment, the man himself walked out into the hallway!   She stopped him and explained Sarah’s story right then and there, and I showed him the photo.  He told me to bring Sarah to his office that afternoon at four!!  It blew me away how God worked this out for Sarah.  We went to the appointment and the whole experience felt like grace, he was so kind and professional and put our anxieties to rest in regards to Sarah’s little mouth injury.  As we already had our own dentist, we thanked him and went on our merry way…….thankful for this unexpected help from a stranger.

Fast forward five years………

Sarah had her six month cleaning last Monday and we found out that the very same front tooth is abscessed.  The hygienist guessed right away that it had been injured at some point.  The doctor came in and said that as Sarah also needed a frenectomy he could refer us to someone to have the tooth extracted and the frenectomy done at the same time to save Sarah from extra anxiety (after her year of kidney woes she isn’t a big fan of dentists or doctors).

I called the number he gave us as a referral and was told they could do the extraction but not the frenectomy.  I called a few more pediatric dentists and was told the same thing.  I called back our dentist and explained what was happening and asked the receptionist to figure it out and make the calls for me, as it was more of an urgent case and I didn’t have the clout of being a physician in expediting the appointment or figuring out what to do.  She agreed to make the calls and I congratulated myself for letting go of control.

It took a full 24 hours to hear back from anyone.  Last night, as I waited in the dark car for Grace to get done with drama rehearsal, my cell phone rang.  The lady on the phone explained that she was calling me because she was contacted by my dentist in regards to Sarah , and she began telling me about the office and where they were located.  To make a long story short:

IT IS THE VERY SAME DENTIST THAT HELPED US OUT FIVE YEARS AGO WITH THIS TROUBLESOME TOOTH.  This guy must be a super hero?

She has a consultation appointment today at 10:50!

***
We got back home a little while ago and the appointment was great.  He said that her tooth was wriggly enough that she can get it out herself.  He put her on antibiotics.  He said that she could wait on the frenectomy for several years and it would be better for her psyche if we waited.  Rich and I totally agreed.  🙂  Oh and they remembered her!