As I write to you, it has been a hectic day, trying to finish some writing work and set up a computer – challenging for the elderly here 😉 – as it is my first week of school, with several other assignments and projects waiting.

It has been a hectic day – and I am so grateful and happy for it.

I have been crazy, small-child-on-Christmas-morning excited about my classes finally arriving. Considering that I was seventeen when I was first accepted into Mississippi State and I’ll be 42 next week, it was a bit of a wait. . . As I understand now, for good good reasons, it’s all in His time, not mine.

I also had a seemingly small God thing happen the other night that reminded me that God even orchestrates the tiny things in our lives for us.

On the same day that I started a month long “write a verse” project on health and healing where the verse was 1 Peter 2:23-25 – the oh-so-beautiful “by His wounds, we are healed” passage in the Bible – I received an Ann Voskamp email (which I usually stop to read when they come if I have a minute – they are so encouraging) about ten minutes after I wrote the verse – and it contained the same verse. Of course, that caught my attention and I just said a thank You to the Lord.

Well, not an hour after that, it was time to go to church (virtually) and I am blessed to do so often these days with one of my dear friends since our youth group days who is pastor of a church out of state. He preached a wonderful sermon – and I could have hit the floor when he began preaching on Mark 1:4-11 – the passage introducing John the Baptist and telling the story of Jesus’ baptism – when I had read it only a few hours before as part of my reading the gospels through each month for the year plan.

Twice in one morning two completely unrelated places brought the same verses together.

It just further reminded me that our God really does watch over every aspect of our lives.

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. – Psalm 37:23

In the same spirit, I can look over my story so far and see that the things that didn’t go according to my plan DID work as a part of His – and the story is so much better that way. . .

I was incredibly disappointed when I didn’t get to go State at 18. . . but I am oh-so-grateful to be a part of it now.

I always dreamed of being a writer and teacher, nursing was not in my mind growing up, and now I wouldn’t take anything for the years I worked, the people I cared for, the things I learned, the friends I made. It was His plan all along.

When my nursing days were at an end because of my health, he has let me see my writing dreams come true. He has given me so many opportunities that I never dared dream of – from writing here to articles to my book. . . He is a good good Father.

Though I would dearly love to wake up tomorrow perfectly healthy, it seems that isn’t in the cards for me – and I am so grateful that He has given me the means to use all of this suffering to help others who are experiencing similar situations. Being able to share and hopefully offer some comfort or insight or reassurance helps to redeem a bleak diagnosis, especially on high pain days.

Having gone through a truly awful situation when I and my children were younger, I am profoundly grateful for my wonderful husband and our cozy hippie hut life with our daughter and houseful of wild fur babies. I have no doubt I would be really grateful for everyone and everything if I had never had bad life experiences – but walking through fire can really shape your perspective – and I now I KNOW how truly blessed I am to be loved so well and looked after and cared for with such devotion.

Since my health can change rapidly – and I don’t know from day to day what my pain level will be or how well I will be ambulating, working outside of our home won’t be possible again. However, teaching a course or two online each semester might. So, when I am finished with my schooling, my teacher dream isn’t gone either.

His story is different from the way I would have written mine left to my own devices – and it is SO much better, down to the smallest detail.

I trust Him to keep writing.

He’ll write the best for you as well.

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and blessings.