Life's A Journey

Sometimes God Makes You Take a Break

Let me start out by saying 2020 started out to be great! I was on track with my writing, on track with my Bible studies and Bible college, on track to reach all of the goals I had set forth. Then it all fell apart. Not because I gave up, but because some pretty big medical issues decided that this was the perfect time to hit. Ugh!

On January 10th, I ended up having to have emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder due to inflammation and stones that the doc said were about the size of a US quarter. Big, bad, ugly. I figured, as the doc told me, that by the 13th, I'd be back to a somewhat-normal schedule. I couldn't have been more wrong. On the 13th, I ended up back in the ER with pneumonia. Okay, so a few days of antibiotics and I'll be back on my feet. Wrong again. On the 16th, I was back in the ER. The pneumonia was gone, but they said I had stomach ulcers. More medications, more money spent that I didn't have.

Let me stop here and give a shout out to my son, Robert, who during this whole ordeal, has been a real trooper - moved a mattress to the living room (since I was sleeping on the couch cause I couldn't lay flat,) so he could be nearby if I needed him. And I did - more times than I care to count. At 13 years old (he turned 14 on January 19th,) he showed more maturity, more initiative and more empathy than I have ever seen out of a 13/14 year old boy. He definitely is becoming quite the young man, with a true heart for other people, and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Okay - now back to what I was dealing with. I missed a grand total of a week at work, and then was only able to go back part time, 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. Finances are really gonna suck for the time being. I figured that by now, I'd be able to keep up on things here at WDC such as "Destination: Goal Zone"  and "Children of God"  and "Invalid Item" . Wrong - again.

So far, it has been a true battle just to keep my energy long enough to let a select few people know what's going on, and to ask them to keep everyone else updated on me. Even now, 17 days after my emergency surgery, I still sleep more often than not, get tired very easily, and pretty much just lay around.

Throughout all of this, though, I've learned something. I wasn't willing to slow down or take a break. So God did the one thing He knew would force me to stop, breathe and rest. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that God caused this - more like He allowed it to happen to force me to slow down. And to be honest, I am thankful for the break.

So, to all of my followers, thank you so much for your patience and prayers! Remember to work on your goals, but take the necessary breaks to take care of yourself, too. Cause if you don't, God just might make you take a break like He did me!