PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• For the last week, my sleep schedule has been completely messed up. I’m generally in bed between 8:30 – 9 PM and up between 4:45 – 5:15 AM. But bedtime this week has been more like midnight. However, my getting up time has not changed. My lack of a sleep routine has affected my energy and my appetite (hello, carbs…. I really love you).
So last night, I completely crashed. Hard. I set my alarms to get up at my standard 5ish AM timeframe, but much to my husband’s aggravation, I kept hitting snooze for well over two hours. So the email version of this devotion didn’t go out on time because I missed the schedule window of 8 AM. My apologies to those of you who subscribe to the blog! I appreciate your understanding.
Today, my husband and I are driving home. During our time in Cincinnati, visiting Wayne’s dad, we’ve wrestled with what to do. We have responsibilities and obligations back home in NC, and yet, understandably, Wayne wants to be with his dad. He’ll be coming back up on Friday. It’s a long drive, and I appreciate your continued prayers for my husband and our family.
As we deal with so much uncertainty, and the what-to-do questions, I go back to a favorite verse for many – Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (ESV).
In whatever happens over the next few days or weeks, we know that God’s got this. It’s all in His hands. David wrote in Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (ESV).
Even before we were conceived, God created a plan for us and set for us a number of days. Job had a similar thing to say in Job 14:5 says, “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass” (ESV).
And then, we come to Jesus, who told us, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27 ESV).
There’s no point in our worrying through the uncertainty. Whether we are actively on our death beds or not, our days are determined by our Creator, and worrying about them won’t change things. My husband and I talked about this on the way back to the hotel last night. Several people have recommended genetic testing since both of his parents have had cancer. However, knowing a predisposition for a disease doesn’t mean that’s what will end your life. Besides, that’s knowledge you can’t unlearn, and all it will serve to do is make you anxious over every single future pain and twinge. You could be predisposed for all kinds of cancers and be run over by a bus. Only God knows how long we have these earthly bodies, how our end will come, and it’s not something Wayne or I want to focus on.
The important thing to focus on is our destination after this life, not the number of days in these temporary bodies. It’s a truth I had to embrace last year in October during my grandmother’s final days, and now, we are revisiting it during my father-in-law’s final days.
Today, as you pray, thank God for being in control of it all. Thank Him that through our uncertainties, He has the answers and knows the outcome. Thank Him for His plan in every situation. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you focus on eternal matters over temporary ones. And ask Him to help you trust in every circumstance.
