My FALL....

Last week was one I was ready to leave behind me.  It began when Monday I was chosen for a jury.  Although I knew the LORD wanted me there, it was hard.  After three days of it, I was mentally, physically, and emotionally drained.  It ended Wednesday.  

I started off Thursday by going back to bed! Seriously, I got the kids off to school, ate, and laid right back down. When I got up, I knew what I needed next…a short run in the sunshine to get ready for the rest of my day.  

I headed out to the lake, but put the brakes on when I noticed an unidentifiable animal crossing the dam.  I still don’t know what it was.  All I could think was an aardvark.  We read about them last year in the library.  It was obviously not that, but enough of an odd creature that I stayed close to the house.

I made a few laps to my husband’s shop and back, just in need of moderate activity.  When I headed back this way towards the house, something happened.  It was so unexpected that I am still talking about it and even still feeling it.

I was running along minding my own business and all of a sudden like the ground underneath me gave way and refused to support me any longer. I fell.  I fell hard!  I fell so hard that I did not know what hit me.  That is until my three dogs passed me running and playing like they were the last leg of the 4 by 100 relay at the state track meet.  They were running full speed and obviously I was in Salty’s lane, so she decided to “truck” me.  She literally ran me over and kept on going without even slowing down.  

I wondered if I would be able to stand up.  I finally did.  I surveyed the damage.  My right foot hurt. When I crumbled to the ground like a cookie in the hand of a toddler, it took the brunt of the deal.  

Several days later, I am still discovering bruises.  I get out of bed slower, and I retell my story every chance I get because it was just CRAZY!  It is crazy because I did not see it coming.  I had zero warning!  I did not brace myself or have the time to do anything at all to prepare.  I was running, then I was in midair, then I was on the ground.

I finally got up, after making sure nobody saw me take the tumble.  (I was home alone, but I still made sure I did not need to be embarrassed.)  I began thinking about the times if life that something has unexpectantly blindsided me.  I thought about my friends that have been completely caught off guard by a diagnosis, an affair, a child battling addiction or something else that had gone unnoticed, or even a situation at work that changed everything.

When we expect it, we can brace ourselves.  We can prepare for the hurt!  When we are caught off guard by life’s circumstances, we can plainly have the wind knocked out of us!  WE can find ourselves down, dazed, and disorientated.  We may not have a clue what is going on.

Dear friends, it is okay to not have a clue IF you know the one who does.  Deuteronomy 4:39 says “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”  

IF you are down this week, look up and take hold of the mighty hand of Jesus. He will pull you up and nothing, I mean nothing catches him off guard!