This a a look back at Friaday, April 20, 2007
Michelle still had pink eye, so she stayed home a second day. I got a call in the morning from a friend that there was a boy from Bonita High School that had stolen his father’s guns and was missing. Apparently, this boy had made threats to teachers and student, so the high school canceled all classes. Police units were posted at all the other schools, and many of the parents were keeping their children home. Jon took Rachel to school and was assured that the school would be in lock down with the police presence. I wondered if the day could get any worse. Selfishly, I did not want either one of the girls home, because I was waiting for Dr. Woodward to call about getting into City of Hope. I was frozen with fear. I could not think or function in a normal way. I called and canceled my Girl Scout meeting for that day. The chaos with the missing student gave me a good excuse to get out of my commitment. Thankfully, Michelle watched television upstairs. I sat at the kitchen table looking at the phone. It was almost noon when a dear friend, Marti Duyshart, called me. We are in a Bible Study Group together, and she had called Jon about something at his office, and he told her to call me. I told her what had happened yesterday. I asked her to call the other two couples in our group so that they could pray. After we talked I went back to sitting at my kitchen table and the day just slipped away. In the early afternoon, Dr. Woodward called and said that he talked to a doctor at City of Hope, and that they wanted me to do a full body bone scan. Dr. Woodward set it up for me on Monday. That was all that was going to get done for the day.
Just before Rachel got home, I came out of my fog long enough to see the envelope that was sitting on the counter that had the Sunday School lesson I was to give that coming Sunday. I had not been called at all to teach since September, and I had kidded around with the new director, Anthony, that I must have taught something incorrectly because I was not put on the teaching schedule. Anthony was delighted to have someone willing to teach, so he had scheduled me for this Sunday and sent me the lesson.
I look over at the envelope and I thought to myself, “Of all the bad luck. Why did I have to start up this weekend?” I was not in the mood to do anything that required any thought. I almost called Anthony to tell him that I was not feeling well, but something made me open the envelope. I looked at the heading of the lesson and realized that God was speaking His first words to me. The title was, “God is at His Best, When Life is at its Worst”. There were two verses that supported that lesson. These verses were God’s first promises to me.
Romans 8:28 “For we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Hebrews 5:13 “For God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you”.
I stared at the verses and could barely believe my eyes. I broke down and cried. It was in that moment that I realized that God had prepared me my entire life for what I was about to face. It did not take away the fear and worry, but it was a hint of promise that I would hang onto in the weeks to come.
Cheryl Powers finally called. She was stunned. There was really not much to say at this point. I had another test on Monday, and I still believed that this was a mistake. Certainly there was something serious going on with my neck, but this was over the top and did not make sense.
I called my dear friend, Valerie Fee, another sister in Christ. Valerie and I became close friends through our daughters at Oak Mesa Elementary School. Valerie and I share a very deep love of peanut butter, and I was the one who introduced her to Woody’s malts. Valerie was shocked by the news and vowed that her and Ken, her husband, would pray for us.
In the midst of all this stress and worry, I still had a very sore neck. I went and bought a neck brace because I felt very vulnerable. I was taking lots of pain medication to keep my pain level down. It was hard to concentrate on anything. It is odd how many things become unimportant when faced with a crisis.
Sandy
