And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord my God,
I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.
Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I will never be moved."
O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
To You, O Lord, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
"What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?
"Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
O Lord, be my helper."
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
-Psalm 30
While at home this weekend, I found myself dreading Monday morning when I would return to RMH (Ronald McDonald House) for another week of Haven's day therapy at Akron Children's Hospital. I believe that dread started on Friday as I was packing up some things to bring home while leaving other things in our room at RMH for the following week. All I could think about was that I did not want to return; that I wanted things back to 'normal'. Without question, home is my favorite place to be on this earth. The reason why I like it has nothing to do with the house itself or the possessions contained therein. I love being home because I enjoy knowing where things are, mapping out the day's agenda, choosing what food to cook, and organizing things the way I like them. At home I find comfort knowing that all my people are under the same roof and that my partner, Aaron, has my back when the stresses of life become too much to handle alone. Home is comfortable to me because it's a place where I find I have a purpose and a mission: to raise my children to love the Lord and serve Him. Yes, for me home is the most comfortable and secure place on earth.
Through the trials that God has allowed to happen to our family, I am learning much about my faith and attitudes. I'm learning that being comfortable isn't necessarily good when you are a Christian. Hidden in my comfortable life are distractions that pull me away from my relationship with Jesus Christ. In my comfortable life where things are going well I often spend so much time on family, housekeeping, and other 'important work' that I'm left with less time to pray, read the Bible, or serve Him throughout my day. In comfort, I sometimes relax and lose my sense of urgency that life is fleeting and each day is a gift from my Creator.
The result of God's allowing these trials to shake up my comfortable life is that He is gradually changing me to be the person He intended me to be. Living away from home has forced me to slow down and has provided more time to be still and meditate on God's word. Time that was spent on cooking and cleaning is now available for prayer. I went into this kicking and screaming, but God has given me a new outlook on life...and a new appreciation for the benefits of not being comfortable.
Haven Health Update
I met with "the team" this morning and received good news: they moved our target outpatient therapy completion date up one week--that means we get to go home on May 3 instead of May 10! Everyone in our meeting is pleased and surprised by Haven's rapid progress. There is still work to be done, but we are so thankful for how far Haven has come. We continue to be amazed at God's goodness to us and will have more details about this development in the next few days.
Aaron brought the girls up this evening and right before dinner I asked him "Is there an Aeros game tonight? Wouldn't it be neat to go to a game?" Aaron said "I wonder if they give RMH guests free tickets?" He went to the evening house director and she made a phone call and came back to us about ten minutes later and said "Your seven tickets will be waiting at any ticket window. Just say 'Will Call for Aaron Walker' and they'll print them right there." We ate our dinner more quickly than we planned, grabbed some jackets, and walked the block over to the stadium. A nice man behind us gave us the foul ball he caught. Levi got a T-shirt from the t-shirt slingshot crew. It is adult XL, but maybe he'll grow into it someday. We left at the seventh inning stretch and had a blast.
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