This special guest blog is brought to you by my beloved sister, Brianne Safir! I’ve had the honor and privilege of knowing Brianne her whole life, and she is a rare gem. She’s kind, honest, and strong. She doesn’t sit on the sidelines; she fights for the weary and broken, and she makes sure you never laugh (or cry) alone. Brianne has such a way with words, and I am excited for you to hear her heart this week!

I find that I do some of my best reflecting on planes. I mean, when you’re flying 31,000 feet above the ground in a metal tube, it’s a little bit easier to be vulnerable with your thoughts.

When I first started writing this, I was on a flight from Chicago to San Francisco and I was so proud of myself because I put pen to paper weeks ahead of my ‘deadline.’ Last week, I found myself on another Chicago trip, reviewing and completely ripping to shreds everything I had written. On my return flight, I opened my notes before takeoff and once again started rewrite the whole thing. And then, the delays started.

I truly believe anything involving air travel is one of the best measures of patience. I’ve seen people go from zero to flames flying out of their heads in about .01 seconds when someone takes too long getting their shoes off in security.

To make a long story short, we were supposed to take off at 7:30 p.m. CT, but because of a ‘mechanical issue,’ we faced several delays before ultimately being asked to deboard our plane at 9:45 p.m. CT. Thankfully, there were two other flights leaving for San Francisco and we were rebooked. As they closed the doors to our new plane and the pilot came over the intercom to tell us he was the fastest pilot at United, you could feel the tension melt. But when they had to reopen doors five minutes later because the mechanics didn’t sign off on the navigation system… I’ll let you imagine my fellow passengers’ reactions. In the end, everything was signed off on and we were on our way at 11:00 p.m. CT (huge shout out to my husband for picking me up at 1:20 a.m. PT).

In situations like this, I’m typically in the camp of people who take a deep breath and realize this is just a small blip on the radar of life. Sure it’s frustrating, but yelling, complaining, and taking it out on flight attendants doesn’t really help the situation. For me there are three things that I know are true. 1) Albeit delayed, I know eventually I’ll get home. 2) My anxiety of flying is exceptionally lower when I know the plane I’m on is safe. 3) I get to choose what to put my energy into, and losing it over something like this doesn’t make the list.

What I put my energy into, and what I have been putting my energy into the last few days, is a little girl named Eva Sherbondy (pronounced Ava). Eva’s story started showing up in my Instagram feed nearly two weeks ago through various authors I follow. In what can truly be described as a freak accident, she has been in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. I’ve watched her story unfold every day through her parents’ Instagram accounts (@lindsayletters.co and @dugansherbondy) and every single day I am further inspired and amazed by what is happening in their lives. To witness their faith and devotion throughout this horrific situation, and to see how they are throwing everything to God, believing in the full healing of their daughter, has sparked something in my heart I’m having trouble finding the words for.

As a person who always tries to rationalize everything, I frequently find myself struggling with my faith. How I can be expected to trust in something that I can’t see; something that could be explained away by a million other answers?

When I got on the second plane, I realized that for three hours I’d been staring at the Hemisphere magazine with Eva Longoria’s name on the cover. I smiled. Eva.

The next morning, I stopped at Philz for the strongest coffee I could get my hands on. If you’ve never been to a Philz, they usually have chalkboards with baristas’ names and their favorite drink lining the walls or the counters. The chalkboard I sat in front of… Eva.

This world is messy. This world is scary. I could choose to explain away that seeing her name was pure coincidence, but I choose to believe that there are connections in this world, big and small, that can’t be explained away. And through all of this I’m reminded that ‘faith doesn’t erase insecurity, doubt, fear; it overcomes them’ (Jen Hatmaker). A reminder I needed in more ways than I knew.

To Eva’s family – she is everywhere. She is on flights to California. She’s on the walls of coffee shops. She is working in people’s lives, and hearts, and faiths in ways I’m not sure any of us know the full extent of yet.

❤

~If you are interested in ways to send love to the Sherbondy family, a GoFundMe account to help with costs has been set up here.