When He's all you've got...

Friday afternoon, with heart thumping and hands shaking, I dialed 911. As I related the information to the dispatcher telling her of the details of my mom’s condition—vomiting violently, weak, and dizzy, and disoriented, between sentences, I lifted desperate prayers to the Lord.

My mom at 4’11” and 110 lbs. usually enjoys perfect health. And her sudden digestive outburst caught us off-guard. Her perky, joyful, and tender demeanor was reduced to a weak groan of pain.

Once 911 arrived, they placed her on the stretcher and we headed to the emergency room.

Our church was notified and prayers were lifted on her behalf. While we waited for hours for test results, reality struck. What if...this was the first sign of a debilitating disease? What if…she’d been sick and no one detected her affliction?

When those thoughts slide through your head, everything changes. Time is not marked by hours or minutes. Rather, it passes by waiting for the next test result, the next symptom, and any word from the doctor. The weather outside has no significance—you’re consumed in the heat of your emotions. Routine activities vanish and prayer replaces all.

Facing a threat to a loved one’s health is like going through a tunnel—dark and frightening, with no escape. You’re headed somewhere, but the destiny is lost in the fog of the unknown.

And while the narrow walls of angst at times seem to close in, suffocating you, desperation ushers a powerful reminder from God’s Word: “Be anxious for nothing…” a beam of light shines through—unexpected yet reassuring—God’s whisper that He’s still in control.

As the song says, when you get to a point where God’s all you got, you find God is all you need.

Hours of inching through the journey with eyes fixed on God’s reassurance, we finally saw God’s smile through the doctor’s words: all test were negative, nausea gone, heaving gone, and my mom could come home.

The dark tunnel suddenly opened up. And breathing relief, we saw how our prayers blended with God’s grace melted our fear.

If you’re going through a dark tunnel right now, I pray you also catch a glimpse of His light that whispers to you too—“I’m still in control, I am your refuge and strength.“

Janet

^“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble” (Psalm 59:16).