Monday, May 3, 2010

Give Them Back to ME!

We are having a most beautiful day!!  After a weekend of threatening storms - none of which turned out to be much where we are, thankfully - today the sun is shining, the birds are incredibly happy in song, and everything seems to be a shade greener.  My garden was to be planted last week, but with the cooler temperatures, I opted to wait a little longer.  Hopefully, it will stay warm this week and the ground will dry up enough that I can go ahead and get it in.

I am happy to announce that I finally finished The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson.  It was an excellent book.  So far, I have found most of Bruce Wilkinson's books very inspiring.  I wanted to share today something that jumped out at me while reading this last book.  He talks in the book of a time when the Almighty asked him for his children.  Of course, his first response was "No!".  Why do we find it so hard to give back to the Father what is already rightfully His?  Well, needless to say, I was immediately taken back to last October when my daughter had a terrible car accident.  There were times during her hospital stay that it was very clear to me I had NO hold on her life.  I could no more keep her here with me than I could speed her recovery.  I was in a position of NO CONTROL!!!  Not that I ever had any anyway, but now it was obvious to me.  HE held her in the palm of His hand, and ONLY HE could restore her.  During those weeks in the Critical Care Unit of UT, I did an awful lot of crying out.  The Almighty was asking me to let her go!  And there was a struggle to do so.  There was a time during our stay that I did eventually surrender Lai back to Him . . . whether that meant letting her go on to be with Him or later when I thought she might be permanently damaged.  But the Father is SO Good!!  I have my daughter back.  I received so much more back than I deserved.  But that is the way the Almighty works, isn't it! 

My exhortation today is to myself . . . now that she is home, still doing a minor amount of recovery, I find myself fretting at times over her struggles.  Did I not just give this child to you, Father?  And not so very long ago.  I can say wholeheartedly that I do not care to go through that experience again any time soon.  Help me to remember, Lord!  And help me to give you all my children . . . daily!!