What did your weekend hold?
Mine held surprises, the kind of surprise that brings me to my knees.
My husband and I are caregivers for one of his brothers. Saturday afternoon M called for help, and I rushed upstairs to help him.
A few hours later we were on our way to the hospital, and spent several hours in the emergency room before he was admitted around midnight.
I’ve spent today by his bedside, working as his healthcare advocate. We hope to have all of his discharge paperwork in hand by dinner time and be homeward bound.
Some things can’t be planned for. This was not how any of us planned to spend our weekend or the first part of our week.
In the midst of this, even as we reeled from the initial emergency and shock to the grueling hours of waiting in a chaotic ER and returning home at 1 AM, a full 13 hours since we had last eaten, to communicating on M’s behalf with doctors throughout the ensuing days, we have called out for God’s help.
In response, we have received physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength. We have fresh testimonies to God’s sustaining power, His specific answer to prayed-for needs, His mercy and grace.
We have been reminded that though we were surprised, God was not. He has in fact led us to and brought us through this time to call us to fall on our knees and receive new streams of mercy.
So even as I have called out to Him in the past few days, He has been working in and restoring my soul. He has reminded me to depend on Him for every breath, for strength of every kind.
There have been moments of frustration and even anger, and He has used these to draw me to deeper dependence, to seek Him for wisdom, to draw me to confession. He has responded with forgiveness, and very pointedly, He has commanded me to forgive others in the same way that He forgives me.
He has helped me walk the fine line between being pridefully controlling and humbly, confidently assertive as M’s advocate.
I am so grateful to see how God is using this unwelcome surprise to surprise me with unexpected displays of His presence, as well as soul-growth for me.
Surprise! And thank You, Lord!