Stormy Weather?

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble.

He cares for those who trust in him.

Nahum 1:7

Last Thursday morning, I woke up to a very sick and feverish Will. As the days followed, one by one, my other children got sick. There were many times in the middle of the night where I'd rock Will back and forth, waiting for his nose to clear up and to hear his rhythmic breathing that let me know he'd fallen back asleep. I started using this time to pray. The house was quiet, except for an occasional cough from one of the other bedrooms and it was dark in my room except for the small glow of a tiny nightlight. I'd hold my baby boy and pray that he'd feel better and I would thank God that I wasn't sitting at a hospital with a really sick child in my arms. Whenever my kids catch some type of virus, I always think, "It's not cancer or some long term disease, I can handle this!" It's all about perspective!

Monday, we decided to take the kids to see the pediatrician. I am not like a lot of mom's who take their kids to see the doctor at any sign of a runny nose. I usually try and wait things out until I know that good 'ole cough medicine or saline drops aren't helping and then I load up the whole crew and go see what the doc has to say. The doctor prescribed them each an antibiotic and an antihistamine. By the time I left the pharmacy, I'd dropped over $100 bucks in co pays and med's, but I was hopeful that things were going to get better and that my children would be back to their cheerful selves in no time. My husband reminded me, that is priceless and worth any money we had.

After 20 minutes of giving the kids their new medicine, Will went from playing cheerfully with his brother to being ready to pass out from exhaustion, his face became pale and he felt like he had a fever. As I held him in my arms I noticed his breathing was weird. He sounded like he had been running a marathon and was breathing very rapidly. I started to get scared at the sudden change in behavior. After a little while had passed, I felt fear begin to take hold. He had a temp of 102, his breathing would not slow down and he kept moaning, "Mama".

So often as I sit and watch my kids play together or I catch a wink from my husband from across the dinner table, I think, "Does life get any better than this? I am not worthy of the life He has blessed me with." And then I remind myself to soak up every minute because life can change in an instance. It only takes one car wreck, one slippery road, one missed stop sign, one rain storm, one etc...and life as we know it, will forever be altered. I am not trying to be a pessimistic, just remind myself how every moment is precious and not to be taken for granted. I once heard that you are either walking out of a storm, standing, soaking wet in a storm right now or you are about to enter one. It has been a long while since I've had any really stormy weather.

Sitting on that couch, listening to my sons shallow, rapid breathing, I started to wonder, "Was this it, the moment that big, fat raindrops were about to fall?" Tears began to form and trickle down my cheeks as I felt so helpless and afraid. My child was calling my name to help him, but I didn't know how. I began to do the only thing I knew how to do. Pray. God was the only One who could help my child. I realized just how much faith and assurance I had put into a bunch of man-made medication. I had forgotten to trust the One who could really heal him.

After calling the doctor and finding out that a lot of children have that same reaction to the medicine, I still did not feel any better until his breathing returned to normal (6 hours after I'd given him the medicine!) and his fever went down. We decided that was the last time we'd ever give him that medicine!

So often we live our lives putting our faith in things other than God. We place our faith in people, who no matter how much they love us-will always let us down at some point. We put our faith in our jobs and our paychecks and what we can buy, yet no job is 100% secure and all the things we buy, will be left behind once we are gone. We place our faith in technology and science, yet even those can fail us too. Every been typing an important paper, only to have your hard drive crash? What are you putting your trust in today? I so often put my trust in myself; I can do it, I can handle it, I can fix it. Not because I think I'm super special or super human, it's just my nature to "do, do, do" that I often forget until I'm all burned out, to ask for help.

The same God who parted the Red Sea so Moses and the Israelites could walk across on dry ground and the same God who raised Jesus from the dead three days after He was buried-is the same God who loves you and desperately wants you to trust Him with all the tiny details of your life. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow-He WILL NOT FAIL YOU!!!

EVER.

Think about that.

Why are we so stubborn to trust in what we can see, instead of having the faith to trust in the One who made us and who even has power over the oceans and the lightening bolts?

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

Psalm 125:1-2