Brenda’s Blog – July 1, 2025
“Don’t do a Sarah!” From his hospital bed Dad listened carefully to our conversation. A group of his good friends had just called me to offer help on purchasing a log cabin at Holly Lake Ranch which would be my home “after Dad’s homegoing.’ When I began the process I had a specific amount of money which would be my limit. If it weren’t accepted I would gratefully acknowledge this was not a good fit. These friends heard from Dad about the situation and told me they would make up the difference between what I had and what they were asking. These were godly, wise men.
I turned to Dad in the hospital room and told him of the conversation. Before I took the final breath and exhausted him with my detailed report of the phone call he looked at me and simply said, “Brenda, don’t do a Sarah. You have prayed about this; you have peace about the decision, so DON’T DO A SARAH!” I knew exactly what he meant. He and I read scripture together daily and the lessons learned in Genesis’s narrative of Abram and Sarai (Abraham and Sarah) still clearly came to both our minds.
She loved Yahweh. She loved her husband and wanted the promised blessings to be his. When it looked like the holy timetable had gotten off track she took it in her own hands to “fix it.” What everlasting trouble resulted from that simple act of helping God.
Dad was telling me to thank the men but to trust God. I graciously expressed my appreciation as I said no. Strangely, that very afternoon my realtor called saying, “I have put better offers than yours on the table repeatedly and been refused. They accepted yours and I will never know why. It is a mystery!” Was it really? Or was it the outcome of stepping out of the Ms. Fixer role and truly trusting God?
Dad died a few months later and I wholeheartedly believe those were his words of blessing for me. He knows I love God and he knows I too often jump ahead in my fervor and desire to see good things happen. But often I hear him say, “Brenda, don’t do a Sarah.”
If you find yourself too eagerly acting thinking “surely, this is such a good thing – it must be God’s will for me (or others)” pause a moment and consider that momentary trust can produce a lifetime of glory for God.