Facing things alone .. by Kathy A. Weckwerth
photo by (pure heart) photography
This week was one filled with angst and trepidation and looking back, I thank God for the signs that He comforted me with as He reminded me … we are never alone.
I think about it often … the days where no one can face what we’re up against but us. Can you relate?
There are days when you have to go in for an MRI, or you’re delivering your child, or you lost your daddy. Those are the moments when you’d like to say to your friend or neighbor, you go through this because I don’t want to.
You walk in the hospital doors, you feel the fear that everyone is moving on with their lives but yours has stopped due to the trouble that’s engulfing you.
The woman standing next to you looks as though she is in a trance as the old man next to her gets up coughing and walks down the hall looking up and glancing at you, but you can see he’s as frightened as you are in this moment in time and space.
The nurse is chatty as she talks incessantly about her upcoming vacation to Montana, while needles are pushed in your arm to send pretentious dye into your veins, preparing you for the tests.
As you enter the MRI testing area, the technician rushes you, barks orders and lacks any kind of sympathy or bedside manner. Your head is encompassed in a small mask while you’re pushed into a long tube and pray that you’ll never have to do this again.
And that’s the moment. There it is. It’s the same moment that comes when they say, “It’s time to push now,” and you feel the horrific pain but know there will be an end to it. Or it’s like the same moment when you walk down the church aisle and realize that the casket in front of you carries the loved one that you will never hear laugh or sing again.
Those moments where you realize that there is no one else on earth who can walk through it for you, are at times … the worst. And yet, as you lay inside that tube with the horrific pounding of jack hammers in your ears, there is a peaceful place inside your mind, with sweet purple flowers and fields of green that greet you. And you hear the Voice of your Savior whispering, “I am here. You are not alone. I have known about this day since the beginning of time. I am your God, you are my child. I will never leave you. I am here. I am right here with you.” Peace begins to rush through the veins, circumventing the dye that has taken over and you feel a comfort that no human can give you.
[callout]Faith is mustered in those moments. Sometimes it’s fragile and weak. Sometimes it’s barely traceable. And sometimes it stands up with strong hope and says, I am not alone for my God is with me.[/callout]
In the moments of your life, when fear and harm, when torment and sorrow meet loneliness, when you are the only one who can face the doctor, face the pain, face the darkness, you remember what God has told us … we are never, ever, ever alone, when we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We walk with Him … and what a great peace we have when we know that He walks before us.
Grace and peace to you on the journey facing the challenges that only you alone can face,
Kathy
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deut. 31:8