Have you ever thought about what time actually is? It is how we measure the length of a day, hour or minute. Even a second. Most of the time these seconds and minutes are just taken for granted, once gone never to be remembered again in how we spent it.
Prior to this message I had just shared with you that my son-in-law was having his appendix taken out this morning. Bun sent me a text message at 6:30am telling me he would be having surgery at 9 AM. She said Ken woke her up at 4:30 and told her she needed to drive him to hospital that he was having a appendicitis attack. She sat up in bed and looked at him with her sleepy eyes and said "are you sure". Easy going Ken said "well it is my opinion that even without running any tests that I am having an appendicitis attack." So within that second their plans for a good night sleep, get up and do the Luke Ministry at church and have a delightful day with the family changed. Thankfully God allowed them to return from Mexico 2 days earlier before Ken got sick. He is out of surgery and doing well now. Jason and Kim are over at their house tending to the kids until they are able to return home.
In one second our world as we know it can be turned upside down. "Suddenly" is used in the bible numerous times. I Timothy 5:22, Acts 2:2, 9:3, 22:6, 16:26, 28:6, Luke 9:39, Mark 2:13, 13:36 and 9:8. That is only in the New Testament. I can remember when "suddenly" I realized something. Great surprises, unexpected moments in our lives when we are happily surprised with a gift, a raise, the unexpected. Suddenly is always something unexpected, out of the norm you might say. There have been many "suddenly"s" in my life. Both good and not so good.
The day that the sheriff of Prentiss, Ms came into my office at the court house and told me Susanne had been in an accident. "Suddenly my world fell apart." At that moment I could not think, talk, even really comprehend what Gary was saying. For the next couple of days I just followed instructions. I am not certain when I fully comprehended the seriousness of what was happening. God surrounded me with his saints, saints that could pray when I couldn't.
Not only did my life change in an instant, but all my family. Bunnie was to get married in 2 months, Susanne was to be her maid of honor. Jason was just turning 8 years old. In less than two months he would go to having 2 sisters at home to being the only child in the house.
Decisions were made, most of which I don't remember. That one second would forever put me and my family on another path. Jesus certainly carried us all through those painful days.
I am not going into the days after Susanne's death. It has always been hard for me to go there. I know she is with Jesus, she is not in that grave in Prentiss, Ms. My faith is so much stronger than it ever would have been before her accident.
Several years after Susanne's death, we were visiting Bun and Ken in Johnson City, Tn. "Suddenly" the phone rang and it was a friend of ours in Prentiss, Ms. Our home had just burned to the ground. Nothing could be salvaged. Again, Suddenly our lives would be altered. In an instance! It was a great shock but nothing could ever be as bad as when Susanne was taken from us. I learned through this that all THINGS" can be replaced to a degree. I grieved over the things that I had kept of Susanne's that had been burned. God has a way of putting us in a state of shock I guess to protect us for awhile while we are adjusting to the changes. Through this event in my life I was shown that it is not things that make us happy. It is not money that carries us through life. It is life itself. That is what is important.
God gives us life. I don't think He wants us to just go our way, do our thing and remember Him on occasions. I truly believe He put us here for Him. He wants a relationship with us. I do know that I have always loved the Lord, and believed He was just that, GOD! But I know now that He was not first in my life. I now have a PEACE that can come only from HIM. The Lord is the only one that could have ever put a smile on my face again. He has given me hope and life again.
Through His Son Jesus Christ I now know the Love Of God and His Son.
There was a time when I just wanted to go to sleep. I could not deal with another second. I took a sleeping pill and then another one and then another one. I woke up in a hospital in Hattiesburg, Ms. Jesus sent a beautiful earthly angel to my door and suddenly I was in the arms of a precious friend who loved me. I was rushed to the hospital and put back together again.
It has not been suddenly..........this journey I have been on with Jesus. It has been a moment by moment journey. You see, He doesn't promise us a tomorrow, just this moment that we are in. Should this be our last one shouldn't we spend it the best way we know how. That would mean we would have to pretty much stay in a constant state of loving the Lord and seeking His face. Do I do this all the time. I wish I could say yes but unfortunately I don't. I would love to stay before Him on my face just praising Him and thanking Him for all He has done for me. So I take these moments like this and try to regroup putting Jesus first and foremost.
Let me always be mindful of the value of one small second. May I never waste another one.
The reason I put Wayne and my picture at the beginning of this is that I truly believe God has blessed me for a few more seconds by giving me Wayne. I have always loved him from when we dated in 1962. Many seconds were wasted for many years but suddenly when we met at my mothers funeral last March we knew we were given another chance. Some do not see it that way but hopefully God will open their eyes one day and all that know us will be ok with us. Wayne is trying to help me remember that part of my life that he knows about. You see...........it was 45 years ago that we dated and then broke up and went our separate ways. I will not begin to tell Wayne's story. But I know I dated him, we went to the same church, were baptized the same time. He remembers everything and I cannot remember dating him only the day he broke up with me. That is another story. There are many things that I do not understand and will have to wait for Jesus to tell me if then. I just know that "suddenly " can change the rest of our lives and that is one good reason to stay prayed up and seeking God's face all the time. That reminds me of the Armor of God but that is for another day.
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