Last week I found myself driving through the woods on a hard-packed dirt road....up a mountain.
Yes, I have to admit, we passed a sign like this only quite small and way up high on a tree. Proceeding ahead with doubt, a car passed by from the other direction, and so my sister said we were fine and obviously the road wasn't closed! We soon found ourselves climbing ever higher, encountering a few ruts and more cornering. We finally reach the top, the road flattens out a bit and I am in a panic but my sister reassures me once again as a delivery van comes our way (how he passed us is a mystery....my eyes were shut as the road had considerably narrowed by now). I'm trying to breathe, my mom (in her 80's) is doing her big sighs. My sister is in the back seat. She has no clue what lies ahead. A sheer vertical drop! Muddy and very rutted! And a hairpin turn for good measure!!
I stop the car and announce that I am done and I was not driving anymore.
Thankfully my sister climbed into the driver's seat and somehow (my eyes remained closed) managed to get us down the mountain.
A week before this hair raising experience we received a diagnosis regarding my granddaughter that has been a year in coming. Thankfully God is in the driver's seat with my daughter and her husband as they face a sheer drop and hairpin turns. I'll be close by, probably with my eyes shut, praying for strength and peace for them as they face decisions I do not want to face.
Isn't it amazing how it seems God uses certain circumstances to parellel others in our lives - as if to illustrate that He understands exactly how you feel, where you're at, etc. I hafta wonder here if He was just trying to show you that just like in the car, you aren't going thru this alone - & that you will get thru' it.
ReplyDeleteTho' your circumstances are unique, I've been thru two similar situations. One involving our second child & the other involving my little brother with Downs Syndrome. I share that so you'll know that I do understand the magnitude of the difficulty of the decisions that you all are facing and so I'm asking God this morning & on behalf of your family, for an extra sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's leading.
My goodness. I just read your daughter's post... I'm sitting in a public cafe with tears brimming my eyes. I just don't even know what to say.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of you and your whole family... and that precious granddaughter that she will experience comfort and joy in her life. And praying that the Lord will be ever-present in the decisions, cicrumstances, and every result of this piece of your journey.
What an anology that mountain drive is. Wonderful writing... and the moral, I think is: HE GOT YOU DOWN THAT PERILOUS MOUNTAIN. Together. Safe. Shaken but okay.
I've often found comfort in Romans 8:26, when I am speechless and numb with helplessness:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
This post is amazing. You are (and have been) included in my prayers as this all happens.
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