I hadn’t planned on having a “Part 2” to my Monday Morning Memo
from last week…but once again…God had different plans.
As I shared last week, we were supposed to leave on vacation on
August 29th, but due to both Dan and I injuring our backs, we were unable to
leave for the first “leg” of our trip.
We actually had three “legs” planned so we decided it was best to wait
until this past Tuesday to head to our second destination.
At least that was the plan.
Once again, everything was changed when we received a phone call Monday
afternoon, informing us that Dan’s mom had been found in her bed and couldn’t
be woke. Long story short…she was in a
diabetic coma, her sugar count was 26 and had been in her bed since the night
before.
EMS was called and she was taken to an area hospital, which was
overloaded with patients. She spent her
first 26 hours in the ER since there were no beds available. Patients lined the halls of the ER waiting
for a more private area. We felt blessed
that she at least had a cubicle!
We are thrilled to say that mom is now doing much better and is
back in the Skilled Care area of her retirement home until she regains her
strength. As I have shared, she just had
a knee replacement six weeks ago, so she has endured a lot of stress on her body
recently and just needs to recuperate for a while longer.
At this point, we were so thankful that we hadn’t been out of
state when this happened. We had no idea
this was in our future…but fortunately God knew.
The third destination we had planned didn’t begin until Friday
so we were fairly confident that we would at least be able to leave at that
point. This was to be the highlight of
our vacation, spending time with relatives in Iowa, so we were more than
willing to give up the other locations to be able to make it to this last stop.
Wouldn’t you know it…Wednesday morning I woke up and from the
moment I opened my eyes, I felt the Lord telling me that we were not supposed
to go to Iowa either. Dan’s back was
much better but mine was still far from healed and I knew that riding in a car
for an entire day probably wasn’t going to speed my recovery. Oh how I dreaded telling our cousins that we
couldn’t visit and to be honest, I really struggled with having to give up our
final arrangements.
I just couldn’t understand why the Lord would stop us from
something we had so looked forward to doing.
So before you begin to think that I graciously accepted all the detours
we faced these past days, I have to say that I did not. I was a guest at my own pity parties several
times. I know that really is ridiculous
when in the scheme of things, my calendar changes were not that critical, but I
allowed my humanness to take over and skew my thinking. My least favorite part
of vacation has always been the unpacking when we arrive home. Unfortunately, I have found something even
less pleasant…having to unpack when you haven’t gone anywhere! It just didn’t make sense to me and I
couldn’t figure out why we were being kept from leaving.
That is until Saturday morning.
Soon after we woke, Dan received a text from one of our employees saying
that he was very ill and couldn’t work.
With two others of our staff also out of town, it was imperative that
Dan be at work. We had no idea that this
would take place…but fortunately God knew.
I sure hope that you are stronger than I am…and that you aren’t
the guest at your own pity party. But if
you are…remember that God still loves you and all He asks is that you trust Him
with the plans for your day. If your day
seems to be filled with detours…you can rest in the fact that God knows what is
just beyond the horizon and will make sure and direct you on the journey that
is best for you. It may not make sense
and it may not be what you would choose, but knowing that He is in control and
wants the very best for you…makes it a little easier. Remember, He just may be keeping you from
something far worse, by diverting your steps in another direction. You can’t see around the corner…but
fortunately God can!
“We
can make our plans,
but the Lord
determines our steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
“For
I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.
“They are plans for good and not for
disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
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