I Watch in Hope for the LORD

 

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,

I don’t know about you, but I feel that there are seasons in our life that are just hard. It seems like eons ago, (and it was), that I was breastfeeding a baby with a rambunctious two year old who would not behave at playgroup. I wanted to spend time visiting with those moms but it seemed that I was constantly refereeing an out of control boy! I am sure you remember those days.
I remember the season, where I had promised myself that I would not make my kids go through moves like I had in middle school and high school, and then, had to eat those words. Job changes, moves, emotions, depression, selling, and buying houses. We did it. Whew, it was challenging.
Then there was the illness of my husband and mom-the C word and the uncertainty and the labor of prayer and going to doctors. Chemo, surgery, recovery and then, for mom, an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis because a doctor failed to do a thorough history which became brain cancer.
As my husband recovered from his cancer and surgery, my mom was dying. In the midst was a college graduation and a wedding. Then, there was a memorial service. It was a challenging season.

I wait for God my Savior;

In the midst of all that, God put a call on my life. It was to come alongside people in crisis. I had already been doing it, but the message became clear in an ICU waiting room. I acted on that call a few years later and became a Stephen Minister and served two Atlanta area hospitals as a volunteer chaplain. Then, thinking I was heading to seminary, I was hired to implement, launch and direct an adult day program-respite, for people with dementia. Caregivers, volunteers, people with dementia were all in crisis. Sometimes my co-workers. It was a rewarding but challenging season.

                            my God will hear me. 

I am now walking beside a group of caregivers who are in their own challenging season of life. For some, they are exhausted. They never knew when they took that vow for better or worse, in sickness or in health, that it would include a disease or syndrome that would rob them of the person they married. For some, they are doing service for their parents they never expected to do. Oh, I remember that with Mom, Dad, and my mother-in-law. For some, it isn’t even a blood relative, yet, they have found themselves in the role of caregiver/ advocate. It is a hard season.

Today, I read a devotion in the book, Streams in the Desert.  Hannah Whitall Smith wrote, “If I see God in everything, He will calm and color everything I see.”  That made me ponder that, in the midst of the season I am in, if I quiet my heart and focus my mind on above, I will sense God’s nearness. After all, He IS! He IS Emmanuel; God with us. We must, I repeat must, remind ourselves of this truth moment by moment. The devil will lie and tell us we are alone and no one cares. That is simply not true.

Today, if you are going through a tough season, I want you to invite Jesus in. Imagine Him right in the midst of where you are and what you are doing. Can you just imagine what He might do or say? Sit there with that thought in mind. Meditate on it because He is.  He loves us that much.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,

I wait for God my Savior;

my God will hear me.  Micah 7:7  NIV