“Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no man travels.”
Jeremiah 51:43
This is how I feel…and I don’t mean dry skin! This week it has seemed like I have nothing to share with you after my quiet time. Not that Max Lucado, Billy Graham and the writers of Living Faith don’t have good stuff to say…THEY do! I don’t! Or at least that is the way I feel. God is speaking to my heart about a number of things…yet, the message or messages do not seem to be coming in clearly. Kind of like a dropped cell phone call or static on a radio. It isn’t that I am not praying…I am. It isn’t that things are so bad in my life that I can’t see straight…they aren’t. No, it is like I am on a road with no billboards, a road with no towns, a road with no businesses…a dry and desert land. If you have ever driven through Kansas or through the desert in Arizona or other western states (think Wyoming – beautiful, but not much there!)…then you can get a picture of nothing. THAT is how I feel. So, my friends…that is why, IF you checked my blog this week, there has been nothing since Monday’s Gratitude List.
So, today I am just going to share a few things going on in my life…
Andy called last night. He thought we might have heard about the 5.9 earthquake near Palm Springs. Since he is living near there he wanted us to know he is fine. (We had not heard, but it was good of him to call.) He said it was kind of wild. The water in the pool was sloshing about 12″ high.
My dad, 88, is in the hospital and has been for 10 days and no talk of going home. It started out with pain, diagnosed as diverticulitis, which he has had before. But his blood pressure has been extremely low and they have discovered he is diabetic. He is improving and sounds good when you talk to him and the doctors say he is going in the right direction.
My parents were supposed to go to California for two months to stay with my sister. They were to leave on July 17th, but that trip has been cancelled. When the start date of my new job got pushed back two weeks, I decided I needed to go visit my parents and started researching airfares to Memphis or Little Rock, when John reminded me that they would be in California. After checking with my sister and making sure it would be OK to visit at the same time, I booked a ticket to California. I would get to see my parents, my sister & her husband AND Andy!!! Now…it will just be Andy and my sister & her husband. The cost of changing the airline ticket is not something I can afford, so I will have to work out another time to go visit my parents. This is one of those times that the Lord has a plan…he KNEW who I would see in California!
Tomorrow afternoon John & I will be leaving for a vacation with his family. We will be on the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. We have been going there for 20+ years…when we lived in the Midwest it was the only time he saw most of his family. Since we moved east, he sees some of them occasionally during the year, but this is a restful and peaceful time to watch the waves, have conversations with siblings and watch the nieces and nephews grow from year to year…I told John that I would get some of my stuff together this morning before work…maybe I should get busy. 🙂
Lord, you know what is going on with me, even if I don’t. I ask that you help me to accept whatever you are trying to show me, but please make it a bit clearer…I really am trying to get it. Bless those reading this blog. Thank you for my blogging friends, Lord, I have learned so much from all of them. Please be with my Dad and help the doctors know how to treat him. Be with my Mom as she tries to deal with all of this. Please help her get her rest. Thank you for my family that is close enough to help out. Thank you for another day to try and serve you…I really do what to be Jesus to the world, Lord. Please help me do that.
Do you ever feel like the messages from the Lord get lost? Like he is trying to tell you somthing, but it just isn’t getting COMPLETELY thorough to your heart? Of course, if it has to come thru my brain to process before going to my heart…maybe that is the problem, I feel like my brain isn’t functioning too well these days!!
Yes, I've had these seasons, too, Mary. We all do. If Scriptures are any indication from the Israelites to today, God always seasons in the wilderness. It is always to stretch our faith. Will we trust Him even when He chooses not to reveal Himself? I am praying for you right now that the reason for this desert will be fulfilled and you can begin to see and hear Him clearly again. In the meantime, walk by faith, sister!
Dear Sweet Mary,
Your honesty and openness are so refreshing. You have no "agenda" with your post, just a heart felt message of where you find yourself at this moment.
Sometimes, in the silence, I feel that God is wanting me to be still and reflect on Him. I think He is saying "there doesn't always have to be noise, you can sit and be silent in my presence and trust that in my silence, I am sovereign and I am on my throne."
Thank you for praying for me today. I have been on the struggle bus!
Have a wonderful trip and praying that your dad improves soon and is able to resume his normal activities.
blessings
~a
Praying for your Dad today.
Mary,
This happens to me, also. Supposedly, these are the periods in which we make the most progress though it doesn't seem that way from our end 🙂 I guess it's kind of obvious that I'm going through the desert, too, from my posts lately. I usually have an easy time writing about what I feel the Lord speaking…but not lately. I know that the Holy Spirit is always hard at work, though!
I will pray for your dad.
Speaking of dry skin – my scalp is sunburned from the beach and peeling! Gross!
Thank you everybody…for your prayers and kind thoughts. I believe God is working. AND…my Dad is supposed to go home tomorrow!!