After my retirement in March 2019, I had 3 unfortunate and atypical occurrences happen to me over the first 6 months that were frightening and confusing. I am thankful for the many people in our church that were very thoughtful and concerned for me and prayed me through this season. Initially, Donna especially, kept sending me encouraging devotionals as the Lord would put something on her heart. And, of course, it was exactly what I needed to hear that day. Our God is so cool how He does those things!

At first, I was in fear mode...typical for me. But, through it all, I had an underlying sense that God was at work in me. When new symptoms emerged, I kept trying to make sense of it and figure it out until, finally, I just surrendered saying, “God, even though I do not understand what is going on with me, I trust that You do.” You hold the master plan for my life and You are never surprised. My battle cry was Psalm 31:14-15, “I trust in you, O LORD; I say, You are my God. My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me”. So, when someone would ask, "How are you feeling?" I would just say I don't know, But God knows.

I’m still being monitored and I’m still working through some medical stuff but the most important thing are the lessons I learned through this season and the work that only God could do in my heart.

I just happen to learn in one of my small groups that I recently attended that the more I surrender when I go through things, the more my capacity for His Presence in my life, the more of an understanding, revelation and experience of His love for me will come to me. Surrender and trust equals new intimacy with my Jesus. I like that! Not saying that it’s easy though, but I am thankful for the support I received from my church family.