Where God has My Life

This picture of a sunrise perfectly illustrates where God has my life; emerging from the sea of illness and bursting through the clouds of uncertainty, ready for a new day. 

The post series began over a year ago with the original title being: Where My Life Is.

I have since changed the title because the Lord is graciously showing me over and over again that my life is not mine at all. It’s a constant process of dying to my self again and again. Since practicing this much needed act of dying daily the Lord is opening my eyes to how selfish I am. (Not something I like to readily admit.)

Nevertheless He is guiding me through each day. That’s one (of many) nuggets of truth He is teaching me; to focus on the day ahead, not the next day, week, or even month. Sure I can prepare for the days ahead, but I don’t need to worry about them. The Lord has all that under control and I need not worry. Whatever happens in a day is allowed by Him.

In recent weeks the Lord has been steadily restoring my energy. 

It started with Him healing my voice back in December. From there it turned into a snowball effect of building my body back up. I continue to sing; turns out that the Lord completely healed my voice. 

I am now able to attend church weekly, instead of once a month!

I get up early!! (Insert squeal of excitement here) 

In the past year I've barely been able to manage to get up before seven a.m. I required lots of sleep, especially when I was dealing with Insomnia issues. Before the Lyme I was an early bird and greatly missed being one.

That’s all been eradicated, and I am now able to pop out of bed at five o’clock, when my alarm clock beeps like a monotone bird. And there is no exaggeration on the popping out of bed. Yes, there are a few days when I get up, set the alarm to go off in maybe fifteen more minutes, or even an hour, but almost always I bounce out of bed. It’s exhilarating to have the energy to start my day so early. This is a delight as I am able to literally spend hours immersed in God’s word and presence.

Just this week, well more like yesterday, I resumed exercising. 

Walking in the elements is a favorite activity of mine. I go after I’m finished with my Bible time; the crisp winter morning air heightens my senses and oftentimes keeps my head cleared. Not to mention the fact that I get to see the sun rise! While I’m walking I discuss with God the insights I've learned that morning, or different things I’m struggling with.

 Today I was able to do my assigned house chores. 

This may seem like no big deal, but I haven’t been able to do chores, or even clean, make dinner, or do dishes, for almost a year straight. It wore me out so quickly; very frustrating, yes, but patience won out. It was hilarious to see the shocked expressions on my family’s faces as they saw me sweeping the living room.

In two weeks I will be teaching piano once again! 

This has all of my amazingly patient piano students all excited. I’m not sure who is excited more, me or them. I pray I’ll be able to teach them longer then just months at a time. We’ll see what the Lord has in store for all of us.

This is basically where the Lord has my life! I look back to where I was a year ago and am stricken with awe at the vast difference. Our God is great! Beyond that, He is marvelous and amazing!

If you are discouraged, depressed, or frightened concerning the circumstances in your life, take heart, the Lord has you there for a reason. Whatever that reason(s) may be, you might not ever know until you reach heaven, but as Romans 8:28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Everything works together for good, including the bad things. There is a season for everything; this too shall pass.
 Please don’t give up, rely on the Lord for grace and strength to carry you through the day, and if it happens, through the hour. God will supply all your needs. 

All you need to do is ask.

Here are the previous posts following my journey through Lyme disease:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8
Part 9

The Power of God's Grace

I am currently sitting in a hospital room with my mother, Cheryl (Treasures From a Shoebox)

The whole family was at one of mom's relative's house on Saturday, helping them take down a couple of trees and clean up the brush. Dad had gone to pick up a few items from the store, and mom and a couple of us girls had walked up the street to visit another family member. While there, mom pulled me to the side and told me that she was only seeing pieces of things. She called it pixelating.

Four years ago, my mom had a TIA (mini stroke) and she did the exact same thing. I knew, and so did the other older girls what her symptoms had been.

I kept calm, and looped my arm with hers while we were there.
On the way back to the first house mom told me that she was beginning to see wavy lines. I kept my arm in hers until we got her inside the house and into a chair.

It was downhill from there.

Most of the kids were still outside helping with brush cleanup and playing while we waited for dad to return. She started to feel tired and cold. I had two essential oils with me, wintergreen and lavender. I did the only thing I knew to do, rub them on her temples. She complained of a headache.
At this point, my older sister Emily and I weren't sure what exactly was going on.
I called a family friend and asked her for advice. We were on the phone for about forty-five minutes discussing whether or not it could be a lack of protein or if it was really a stroke.
While on the phone, I kept going into the room where mom was at in a chair, and checked on her, letting the lady on the phone know what was going on.

About this time, dad was home and not really apprised of the situation because he had been outside the entire time. We decided it was best if he came in and assessed the situation and determine what he thought was the wisest course of action.

He came in and after looking at her and talking with her he said that we were taking her to the hospital.
My mom is very stubborn. And people who are having a stroke tend to be even more stubborn. She fought us tooth and nail all the way to the hospital.

We had all of the kids with us, so, in our work clothes and all, we took mom to the ER.
She was still slurring her speech, had a headache, was extremely confused, and the right side of her face was numb.
They admitted her and took a couple of tests.

I am normally the one who is in the bed getting all of the blood work done and stuff; not the one in the chair explaining to the doctor and the nurses what was going on. I was sent back because I had been there from the very beginning.

After all of the tests for a stroke came back negative, they were going to release her. They had started the releasing process when a neurologist stepped in and said that based on her past record they needed to keep her and run some more tests on her to determine what the cause was.

Mom had been given pain medicine, but it did not take the headache away and the right side of her face was still numb and felt weird.

Dad, Emily, and I went home for the night and came back this morning.
She will be having an MRI and a test on her carotid artery tomorrow.

Normally, in situations like this, I'm panicking, worried sick to my stomach, can't eat, and full of anxiety. I can handle health problems happening to me, but when it comes to other people that I love, no, I can't do it.
But I don't have any of that this time. I'm calm. I have never been this calm through a crisis in my life.

There is one explanation for this; the grace of God. I know that the Lord is with us. There is not a doubt in my mind that He is with us even now. There are so many people lifting us up in prayer that I can almost feel Him holding us in His hands. It's totally surreal. Totally and completely. The peace and grace the Lord is pouring out on this whole situation is overwhelming.
The Lord is trustworthy. He truly is. I have not a doubt in my mind that the Lord is in control of this entire situation.

The power of God's grace is more than enough to calm a normally quaking heart;
He can do the same for you. Just trust in Him.

Blessings,
Haley