Have you ever noticed how wonderful rest can be? Recently I experienced a reminder.
This past September my wife started her first fulltime job teaching school about 30 minutes from our home. We have always been a tradition family with only one full time income but now that our youngest daughter is off to college, this seemed like a good choice. But is has also been a transition and a lot of work for my wife as a 50 year old full time first year teacher.
In September a close family member separated in marriage and lived with us for three months.
In October we started an addition and remodeling project on our house that is still in the process.
In November I was sick most of the month with a very difficult virus that had hospitals full in the upper Midwest. We also started the Seasons of Praise, the holiday worship services that continued through New Years Eve.
In late December, after Christmas, we found out that one of our daughters had a tumor in her neck located in the Saliva gland that would require surgery.
In January she had surgery. After many tests it was determined that the tumor was cancerous and would require further surgery, which took place two weeks after the first surgery. The personal trauma of this is hard to describe in words and perhaps cannot be done. I might add that the second surgery was quite successful and there were no more signs of the cancer and there is no expected return.
In February I had about 10 days where things seemed to be a little more normal when I caught one of those chest colds that I have a difficult time getting over. In late February my grandmother, whom I lived with until I was seven, suffered a severe stroke.
In March my grandmother suffered two or three more stokes and has been between the hospital and the nursing home three times. She has approached heavens gates on more than one occasion during these days. I have been at her side as often as I have been able to pray with her. She has prayed for her entire family daily so these are difficult days for all of us.
Last Monday we moved out of our old office into our new office that was delayed in completion. The phone company made numerous errors in transferring our phones, which caused us to be without phone service on three occasions for up to two days at a time. I have a website business that we have been trying to build to support ourselves and the ministry I want to do. (www.communityshowcase.net www.onlinetraderusa.com www.onlineweeklyusa.com (going up later this week) Pine City, MN is the sample community.)
Our carpenters also returned last week for the first time since December to continue our house project. We moved most of our things out on Wednesday night with the help of my brother-in-law and two nephews. The carpenters arrived Thursday morning and began gutting out the old part of the house. We salvaged the bathroom and one small bedroom through the weekend but I felt like we were living in an abandoned house in the ghetto.
And then came Monday morning. We got up early and moved the mattresses into the garage and took our needed close and put them in the car. Although I knew better, there was a sense…I felt like I was homeless. It was a long day on Monday because we really hadn’t determined what we were going to do. Finally that afternoon we made a decision to rent a motel room for a few days.
When we got into the room I laid on the bed and thought, “I need some rest!”
There are times in our lives when we will have a lot of circumstances that will wear us down physically and rest is essential. But these same circumstances can wear us down spiritually and we must also have spiritual rest. These are the times when we must lay at the feet of Jesus and say, “Lord, my load is heavier than I can carry right now and I need to rest. Could you carry this for me for awhile?”
For many of us, we try to carry the load that Jesus wants to carry for us. So if your life resembles what mine has been in the last few months:
- Let God be God and don’t carry the things that He will carry for you.
- Realize that something wonderful is coming around the corner or you wouldn’t be experiencing these kinds of days! (It’s Friday but Sundays comin’!)
P.S. I trust that you have been blessed by the ChurchMouse Chronicles during these days when writing them has not always been easy. Thanks to those who have contributed things that we have been able to use.
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