Did Someone Push the Pause Button?

    

Pauses in life, interruptions, unexpected circumstances come to all of us.  We don't get to choose the timing, do we?  And often we wonder how they fit into the good plans God has for us.  For now, we can trust that God knows best and that He is never caught off guard by anything that happens to us.  One day we'll see the big picture and understand how all the pieces of our lives fit.

John David and I would never have chosen to have Christmas with part of the family and a week with our grandchildren postponed, nor would we have requested to spend New Years in the hospital.  Just wasn't in our plans.  But it happened.  John David became very sick and spent a week in the hospital recovering from pancreatitis, gall bladder surgery and other health issues.  We are so thankful for God's healing touch and His very real presence with us in room 815 - especially in some very frightening moments. 

On New Year's Eve the nurse remarked that we had the best view in the house for the fireworks that would soon fill the night sky over the Red River.  So after John David's pain was eased with strong medicine and he rested, I turned off all the lights in the room, sat at the big window and enjoyed the colors that exploded along the skyline.  I watched the lines of traffic below move along, carrying those whose lives were not on "pause." Was it where I wanted to be?  Of course not!  But I'll always remember that night and the unexpected enjoyment that I experienced in that quiet room.  Even in the dark times, His Light bursts into our night!

We had just celebrated the birth of our Emmanuel, God with us.  And He certainly was.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . so He understands our pain, our interruptions, our disappointments.  He truly is the God of the pauses!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to those who have expressed concern for my blogging absence.  I appreciate you!  Hopefully, I'll get rested up and be back reading your blogs and posting on mine.  But before I do that, we're going to finish celebrating Christmas with family!