For those of you who have known me a while, you know that I absolutely believe in seasons during our lifetime journey. In 2003, I began a season of taking care of my parents who up until that time, had been perfectly able to take care of themselves. Dad was always active and healthy and even when his heart began to have major issues and include many hospital visits and procedures, he was still a "healthy" man who loved to live life. Mom was diagnosed with "sudden onset acute rheumatoid arthritis that year and it changed her life in a different way. It literally hurts to do just about anything, has attacked her heart muscle and sent her into congestive heart failure and the beginning of kidney failure. Oh yes, she found out she had breast cancer five months after we lost daddy.
Add to the fun, losing three of five brothers-in-law, one sister-in-law, and a nephew and by the end of 2007, I was pretty much done - functioning on a surface level, never going deep for fear that I wasn't going to be able to fight my way out of it. I simply needed rest, both physically and emotionally, and God in His mercy and His grace, granted both. Our lives calmed down tremendously, God shielded us from major challenges, and allowed us to rest in Him. It has been amazing, wonderful, and totally unmerited favor. Grateful doesn't begin to describe it.
Then, a few months ago, driving home one evening, talking to God as I often do, I heard simply "you are getting ready to go through it again"...... I teared up just a bit but whispered in return "OK, thank you for the rest you've given and the ability to know this time around that YOU are sufficient". Nothing significant happened for the next few weeks and I thought that perhaps I had not really heard what I thought I had heard.....
To be continued.
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