IT'S ANOTHER DAY TO TRUST AND OBEY

 

I've always loved the mornings, the solitude before my husband makes his way out of the bedroom looking for some tasty morsels to start the day. The way the sunshine makes its way through the forest trees and bounces off the trickling creek out our back window. And those lucky days when our wild rabbits come and visit, feasting on the new blades of grass covered in morning dew.

But these days they haunt me more often than not. Mornings have become more significant than ever now that I have cancer. Will I make it another day? I'm in such pain these days, is this the end of the road for me? And then each day I wake up in almost a state of disbelief that I made it to another day. Am I really here? Should I pinch myself to make sure? Lord, I'm ready when you are.

It becomes a waiting game unless you trust and obey.

I remember feelings like these as I was a caregiver for both my folks. We moved here to take care of them about eight years ago because both my folks had Alzheimer's Disease. They passed a year apart from each other but each situation in their final months was similar. It was a very difficult time as a caregiver, navigating the unknown. Would they be alive when I came into their room each morning? Would tonight be the final time I'd hug them goodnight? We survived the stress and by the grace of God I knew the night each of them would pass, but it didn't make it any easier when I found them the next morning.

I'll never forget my Mom's heavy breathing, which is a sign before one passes. She couldn't eat anymore, except when I fed her a bit of vanilla pudding. And she was unable to talk. She was in her hospital bed, holding onto her baby doll tightly and my dad in their regular bed at the other end of the room. In the morning, after she passed, my dad said he had gone to her in the middle of the night and was there when she faded away. She was laid to rest with her baby doll which brought her great comfort in her final days.

Thank goodness for family, and thank goodness for living out your final days at home. Most days I look around our house and thank God that I can be surrounded by such beauty, love and memories. After my folks passed, it was hard to be in the house, but now over a year later, I feel great comfort being surrounded by some of the pieces in the home that were passed down to us. Plus the memories we shared.

So how do we have the courage to get through the day-to-day before the inevitable? We trust and obey, just like in one of my all-time favorite hymns we used to sing in church.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still

And with all who will trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

Or we'll walk by His side in the way

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go

Never fear, only trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

To me, this is the key to life, no matter what situation we're going through. If someone asks me how one should live their life, these three words sum it up. Trust and obey. To trust Christ with your whole heart and mind. And to obey His commands and live gratefully in the path that He has for us. God is never wrong and His plans for us are always perfect. Our goal should be to live in His Word each day so we might get to know Him better and truly understand how to find what His desires are for us.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6