"Snippets" is kind of an appropriate moniker for my life this month...figuratively and, if you could see my right side, literally. As I look at the calendar, I'm thinking about having a T-shirt made for myself that says, "I SURVIVED JANUARY 2010!" Truly, God has been gracious to me in getting me through the first half of this long wait, and I thank Him for providing me with a team taking care of me that is so beyond what I deserve...

Because of a death in our extended family, the Papa needs to go to Fort Worth tomorrow. Since Lyric was due to fly back to California last night, I was a little panicked at being without both of them...but again, God provided in an unexpected way when Lyric offered to extend her stay by three or four days to cover most of the time that John is gone. Like so many times before, His provision and the love and care of my "inner circle" has made me feel enveloped in His arms as well as theirs.

The events of the past six weeks have disoriented me as to time...the holidays were a blur, and now it's a new year and sometimes I can't think what month it is. Yesterday I looked outside the window and noticed that our crape myrtles were leafless, and thought, "What month is this?" Much as I love winter, this year I'm looking forward to spring...

You know you miss cooking when you dream in detail about a trip to the grocery store and exactly what you're going to do with each ingredient, watching the clock to make sure you're home to get it all prepared in time.

And oh, how I've missed worshiping with my church family. In these past few years I've had to miss so much with them and I pray for the day when no one has to say to me, "I'm so glad to see you could make it! Welcome back!"

You'd think with all this time on my hands that I'd have gotten a lot of reading done. Not so. Focus and motivation (and until the past week, drugs) have been on the wrong side of reading. How lovely, then, that Lyric loves reading out loud to me. Since my return from the hospital, we've finished In Faithfulness, He Afflicted Me, and we are now halfway through Anonymous: Jesus' Hidden Years...and Yours. Both these books have had messages I need to be reflecting on through this time. Anonymous focuses on not despising all the hidden times in our lives when God is preparing us for the future. It's hard, sometimes, to see where my future goes from here, but I know that's not a mystery to my Father and He is preparing me even through this strange and difficult time of waiting.

And that's all I have from here. My frame of reference is rather small and I don't seem to have all that many observations of the world other than how things look from my rented bed...but then, this, too, shall pass :-)

Labels: Books, Family, Health, Sundays