An Uncommon Cold

I had a cold. I mean a COLD. I don’t get usually get sick; in fact, I hadn’t had a common cold in a few years.  But this cold was unlike all others and left me barely enough strength to get through our home schooling and the household chores.  There was no stamina for anything extra. 

And... it was the VERY last week of school. The week I had anxiously anticipated for the past few years. The week we were to graduate our youngest child, a senior in high school with multiple disabilities.  We were moving to a new stage of life.  

It is a day that every parent of a disabled child faces when that child becomes an adult -- an adult in age only, not in ability or function.  I had been seeking the Lord about this life transition for years.  Now it was upon us, and I had no idea what we would do after this week. 

“Lord, I gave up trying to figure out the whole plan for the rest of my daughter’s life, but I don’t even know what the next step is, and here we are!  I’ve been seeking You. I’ve been waiting on You.  It’s time for the next step right now, and I still don’t know what to do.”  

His message came that very last week of school through an uncommon cold, and through my readings in Hosea that week.

Hosea 4:16  Since Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer, can the LORD now pasture them like a lamb in a large field?

I learned that cattle, even calves, are not very vulnerable to predators; however, lambs are extremely vulnerable.  Israel thought they were cattle, but God would show them that they were really only lambs.  Through that uncommon cold which limited me to being able to do only the basic things of homemaking and caregiving, God exposed me to the reality of my extreme vulnerability and fragility.  It was like He pulled back the curtain and showed me once again that the only reason I have been as strong as an ox is because of Him.  The reality is I am a lamb...a lamb in cattle’s clothing...fragile...vulnerable.  

“Child, you are just a lamb.  I know your vulnerability.  I know your fragility.  I know your hard work done in My Name and in My strength.  I know your weariness.  This is the next step--rest.  I delight to see you rest, especially the rest that comes from trusting in Me.”

Are you at a transition point in your life, and though you’ve been seeking the Lord, you still don’t know what the next step is?  Could it be because the next step is to rest? When it is time, He will make you as strong as a ox again.  I mean a lamb in cattle’s clothing.