Trusting Tuesdays {Oneword365}: Stalked versus prepared

At the beginning of the year I shared

This fall a new word started to pop up around the edges of my soul.

There are times when God gives us freedom to make choices. And there are times when He stalks us like a lion at a watering hole coming upon a tasty gazelle.

Trust, Amy, Trust.

Trust?! How about laughter? Or Risk? Anything that doesn’t bring to mind a cosmic trust walk. Remember being blindfolded and asked to trust your guide?

But God isn’t playing a cosmic game with us. When he asks us to trust, it’s not for raw sport. It’s for our growth and maturing.

I felt bouncy inside when I discovered in my photos one that fit perfectly with trust.

It now seems a bit prophetic…

This month I’ll add

When God stalks you, it’s might be for more than your growth and maturing, it might also be for your preparation.

I’ll show you my cards a bit (and probably reveal more about where my security lies). In the deep recesses of my soul, I thought trust was mostly related to NOT financially freaking out as I’m going through a major life transition.

Cue the cosmic laughter.

Again, I do not think God is playing with me; the laughter is more about how incomplete and short-sighted I am. It’s really more of a gentle chuckle from someone who sees and knows far more than you. God knew what was coming, and in his mercy, began to prepare me last in the fall.

I’ve blogged through this process, but the short version is on Tuesday, January 28^th my sister and I took our Dad to the ER thinking he was dehydrated after eight days of stomach flu that seemed to be intermittent.  Turns out he was in acute renal failure and was admitted to the ICU. Friday, January 31^st Dad was moved out of the ICU after having his gallbladder drained while we all waited for his kidneys to wake up. At this stage we were exploring rehab facilities.

The very next day we were told he had two choices: go on dialysis (a gruesome process due to other health complications) and live three to six months OR not go on dialysis and die within a few weeks. We moved from looking for rehab facilities to long-term acute facilities. After an agonizing weekend, the decision was, thankfully basically removed from our hands and on Monday, February 3^rd Dad was moved into “comfort care” and was no longer being treated.

He died less than two days later  and  his memorial service was on Monday, February 10^th. Do you see why I laugh at the thought of “trust” being about money? Eight days after we thought Dad was dehydrated, we were planning a memorial service for kidney and liver failure. Money pales in comparison.

Trust, trust, trust.

January whispered trust uses both hands. She holds the present in one hand and the long view in the other.

February joins in with trust can build a bridge others walk on. I wrote earlier this month, “Our parents built a bridge out of their lives for our family and others to walk on, so though this is an unpleasant path, we are together in the decision and traveling in a pack, albeit a weepy one!”

Looking back, where can you see God has prepared you for a part of your journey?

P.S. If you haven’t, sign up for The Messy Middle {quarterly} newsletter and receive a free ebook. It’s easy to sign up for 

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Here’s the deal for the link-up:

• Every third Tuesday I’ll host a link up. Trust + Tuesday + Third = three T’s and I don’t have to mark my calendar with different dates! Just remember TTT. The next one will be on February 18^th  and you can get more details here. The link up will be open for one week, after one week, you’ll need to wait until the next month.

• Please link back the link-up, either by using the Trusting Tuesday picture or simply a text link.

• I’ve also started a Pinterest Oneword365 board and want it to be a community board (meaning let’s have our Oneword365 posts all in one place!). Check it out!

• If you miss a month, don’t beat yourself up. This will go on for the next twelve months and isn’t meant to overload you or make you feel guilty. We’re going to be a group of cheerleaders.

 

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