Vern and Bee have enjoyed the days since my accident. They love having us home all day long to snuggle up against. Vern has been particularly attentive. Whenever it appears that I am in pain or lonely, he will jump up on my chair and slide his body next to mine.
Vern and Bee are only two of the many blessings that I have received through this time. Many people have appeared at my door with a meal and a conversation to distract me from my situation. I have had many emails and texts from individuals who have placed me in their prayers. My husband has been extra attentive and been willing to take directions on the chores that I once considered mine.
I pray that I will never forget the kindness that has been directed in my direction. But if I was to name my greatest blessing, it would be how I am stuck. You see before this accident, I had been praying to God to help me get out of a mindset that centered around worldly success. I was becoming more and more preoccupied with defining myself by the numbers and not by my creator’s vision of me.
As I look into the Word, I am reminded how men and women within God’s will were stuck. Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, was one such woman. Her husband and two sons had died leaving her abandoned in an ungodly land far away from her family and friends. When the story opens, Naomi is filled with grief and is unable to see her blessings.
With nothing to lose, she decides to walk back to her home, a place where she had heard that the Lord had visited. As she begins her walk, she is joined by her two daughters-in-law. But after she pleads with them to return to their home, one returns but her daughter-in-law, Ruth refuses to leave. And in that moment Ruth turns to Naomi and states, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16)
And in that moment, a bond is formed between these two women that will live for eternity. Naomi and Ruth do return to Bethlehem and Naomi marries one of Ruth’s relatives and both women are taken care of for the remainder of their lives. But that isn’t where the miracle ends. You see Ruth’s baby was named Obed, the father of Jesse, and the grandfather of King David.
So I have come to believe that God works when we are stuck. It is in these times that He does his greatest work. So as I sit with my leg propped up, unable to walk, I will turn my eyes upward and wait on the Lord.
As for Vern and Bee, you will find them waiting beside me.
