Choices

So I had a crazy 12 hours on Saturday into the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. I am choosing to be thankful, but I have to keep reminding myself....to be thankful.



First off Charlie gets pulled over in our driveway, as I was on the phone with him telling him to hustle he was going to be late taking Kole to football camp. So, as Charlie pulls in so does an officer with his lights a flashing. So after a good long lecture, (that Charlie took VERY WELL) he got off with a warning, and was told it could have added up to about $350 between the ticket speeding and the one for talking on the phone. So I am thankful for the warning!



Then Charlie and Kole get home about 10pm from the football camp, and I had been watching Reece as he was resting, he had been sick that day, and even as he slept he looked and sounded like he was struggling to breathe. I ask Charlie to watch him for a few minutes and tell me what he thinks...he says,"We need to take him in", um, that interprets to me that we actually need to call 911 because Charlie never thinks our kids are in need of medical attention.



So we then get to the hospital...and long story short 2 breathing treatments, 2 hospitals, and a near ambulance ride from one hospital to another we were released by a wonderful Dr. who did not charge us, and hung out with us for 30 min. in the emergency room until the nurses and the respiratory therapist brought us exactly what we needed so we could go home. We just thought he was doing so much better and needed to go home to rest. God had answered our prayer, we asked for guidance and also asked that Reece would be better and that we could just go home. When we left Redmond his oxygen level was 91% by the time we got to Bend it was 95%; that is only the Lord.

We headed home at 4:00am...I was holding my sick babe in the back seat and Charlie was driving. Charlie fell dead asleep and he woke up as we were full speed ahead in the ditch on the left hand side of the road, he manage to pull it back and the road and we hit the ditch on the right hand side....we fishtailed about three times like that until he was able to get it under control. Praise God...we did not hit a tree, we did not roll, and we did not hit another car. He totally protected us from what could have been the worst. I could and have said how could God allow this to happen, I mean Charlie has driven hundreds of thousands of miles and never fallen asleep, or I can and I am thankful, that nothing happened, we are all safe and sound.

So we get home and I get to texting my running buddies to tell them I will not be running in a race that we have had plans to run for a year. This is a yearly event that I have done for the past 7 years. This would be year 8. I text Holly and say, I'm going to spend some time praying and thinking and I will let you know what I'm going to do. I open my Bible to where I've been reading and my eyes fall into place on Isaiah 58:13-14

Isaiah 58:13-14 (New International Version)
13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Well, I love this because the Lord knows just how literal to be with me. He even mentions my feet in this passage. He knows me so well, and He is so faithful to speak and what I got out of this more than anything was the assurance that He was hearing me ALL NIGHT...when Charlie was talking to the officer, when we were in the hospital, when we were headed to the second hospital, when we were headed home and in a near wreck. He heard it all; He was letting me know very clearly, that He had heard each request, and He was there the entire time, with us. He wasn't always giving me the answer I wanted, I wanted TO run, I wanted to NOT have a sick babe, I wanted to NOT have Charlie fall asleep while driving, but it all happened, and it was all allowed, but He was so with us every step of the way, He was helping us, He was protecting us, He was guiding us, He was listening and He was answering prayer and he just confirmed it to me in a verse when I was asking Him about a silly run.

What an awesome God we serve!!!

So, I choose to be thankful, and sometimes my mind wanders to why us why now...blah blah blah, but then I choose to be thankful again and again. Choosing it, because it does not happen very naturally, my nature wants to complain and whine, but again, I choose thankfulness.