Every year, I ask Abba to give me His word for the year. What are we going to work on together, LORD? This year is no different. But October, November, and December were full of surprises of a medical nature. I spent two and a half days in the hospital and a trip to the ER. And my husband was in the hospital for a week.
I don't know about you, but surprises like these threw my 'normal' life into a tailspin. So, while I thought about my 'word for the year,' specific requests were missing.
Still, on December 31st, I asked, "Abba, what is the word You want me to focus on in 2024?"
"Trust," He said, "and Peace."
Later, I opened my Jesus Calling devotional by Sarah Young and read, "I have designed you to have no sufficiency of your own. You are an empty jar set apart for holy use. I want you to be filled with My presence and permeated with My peace."
He was speaking, and I was listening. I was also wondering what living lessons in trust and peace were coming my way. And I didn't have long to wait.
On the afternoon of January 3rd, my heart started racing like crazy. I took my blood pressure, and it was over the moon. I called my cardiologist. He told me to get to the hospital ASAP. However, our usual hospital, where our doctors are on staff, was in a different crisis.
Someone hacked their computer system. They couldn't access their records, and many high-tech machines would not run. So, my doctor told me to go to another hospital instead.
While at that hospital, I passed out, and the doctors there realized I needed a cardiologist and higher-tech equipment to detect what was going on. So, I took a trip by ambulance to a bigger hospital in the city. In short order, they put me in the Cardiac ICU, where I remained for five days.
Meanwhile, our kids took off work to care for Mike at home. The day after I went to the hospital, Mike finally got the procedure done on his back that he needed.
Are you getting the picture? Trust was getting a workout, and we were only four days into the new year.
It's two weeks later now, the kids have gone back to their lives and work. I am slowly regaining my energy and Mike is regaining some of his strength. I am on call now 24/7 but God's grace is carrying both of us. We have had to trust Him to have peace. Without trust, there would not be any peace. He daily meets our needs.
Neighbors have brought in food and given us rides when we needed them. Neither one of us could drive for the first week I was home. And I still have one week to be extra nice to my left arm. They want the pacemaker to be firmly at home in my chest.
The county provides physical therapists and nurses to check on us twice a week and keep us on track with healing—for free. A van from the county also comes to the house now and takes Mike to his treatment and brings him home three times a week—again, for free. The local thrift store provided a walker and two shower chairs for us to use without cost. A wonderful guy from church came over and helped Mike get down and up the stairs on the days he goes to treatment until I could help him. And prayers from many points on the globe are going up daily for us. We are so blessed!
Here it is February 1st, and I realize many of the things I've been able to do daily for years were interrupted over these last two months. There's been little 'sufficiency of my own.' I am wondering at this point, what is yet to come.
I am learning to praise Him no matter the circumstances and trust Him no matter how life-threatening things appear. I am more aware of how deeply He knows us, knows what we need, and gets it to us when we need it. I still don't know what the next hour, day, or week holds, but I am trusting Him more and more, knowing He goes before us and is with us. As He is with you.
Earlier, I tried to write, but my CEO, Yahweh Elohim, had other plans. The words would not come. When He said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing," (John 15:5 ) He meant it. Oh, you can do something on your own, but there isn't any life in it.
In January 2020, He told me, "Anointing manifests through rest. It flows unhindered in TRUST. All your efforts are empty striving unless they come out of obedience and rest." So, in the middle of my new life as a caretaker, I am doing my best to rest and trust.
Has He given you a word for this year? Share it in the comments. I'd love to hear it.
I will end with this well-known scripture that sets a path for this year.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Shalom ♥
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