Stormy Weather

Image courtesy of George Stojkovic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This afternoon as I looked for an idea to write about, I was led to this quote (Daily Guideposts, 2008, p. 341): "If you seek Me in all directions, you will find your way through the problems of the day." It made me start thinking about experiences in my life where this had been true.

One memory that stands out is about my oldest dog, Maggie, who is nearly blind from cataracts. Twice now, she has gotten out through a barely open gate and "run away from home." Both times were at dusk, and I was worried about her vision problems being worsened by the darkness. I searched frantically around my home and neighborhood both on foot and by car----and both times in final desperation, I'd given up and thought in my mind, "Okay, God. I give up. Please let me find her." On both occasions shortly after releasing that prayer, I returned home to find Maggie safe and sound waiting for me at the gate to my back yard.

Other examples are embedded in my memories of being a patient at Barnes Jewish in St. Louis. Two of the four times I've been hospitalized there for a partially blocked small intestine doctors have had me sign informed consent for emergency surgery. Both times, at the last minute, they have decided my body was healing itself and cancelled the surgery. The other two times my body healed itself with God's help---and the help of the nursing staff who kept track of all my IVs, gastric pump, I&O, etc. I have learned to be patient as a patient and trust God to "help me find my way through the problems of the day." Without my faith and God's grace at those times I would have been consumed with tremendous worry and fear. Not that I've perfected my faith because the last time this happened I was determined to stay home and "handle it myself." Phone calls with a friend and a doctor in St. Louis convinced me to go to the emergency room where it was determined my pain and anxiety/stress was causing major heart problems for me. But, again, it wasn't until I gave up and let others and God help me that I started to get better.

My last example occurred last night. The tornado warning sirens went off. Picture me getting 4 dogs on leashes and pulling them downstairs with me into my basement. Water was running in over the bottom of the last three stairs and across the basement floor in multiple rivulets to the basement drain. By the time we were in the basement, I had 4 leashes wrapped around my legs, and just keeping my own balance was a challenge. Then the electricity went off, and, with the help of the flashlight I'd brought down with us in my pocket, I stumbled over to my "emergency lantern" only to find the batteries were dead. A prayer released to God to "help us" (pretty easy to give up and surrender when you've lost all control), worked quickly, as the lights went back on, I was able to get me and the dogs untangled, and we were able to comfortably sit out the storm, which, thankfully, never materialized that much.

I am very grateful that God helps me find my way through the problems of the days when I seek His help. He has done this so often that I no longer doubt that it will ever be otherwise-----as long as I seek Him and his help. His solution may not be the one I want, but it will always be the one I need. Someday, a dog may remain lost, I may have to have emergency surgery, and a tornado may hit----but even so, God will be with me. Then, again, Maggie my never be lost again, I may never get my small intestines all tied up in a knot again, and we may never be on the receiving end of a tornado. The bottom line, for me, is that come what may, if I seek God's direction, then He will help me cope with the situation.

Please comment and share your ideas about God helping us through the problems of the day if we seek His direction. May God bless and keep you.