“We make our plans but the Lord determines our steps.”The verse of my life right now. Proverbs 16:9 Actually to be more accurate it’s been the verse of my life for as long as I can remember. I’m not even sure how it became a daily prayer of mine but here it is. There have been others but this is the one I, or more like “we” (the kids and I) start our day off, by telling the Lord all our plans but being fully flexible to his leading. Oh my it is such a JOY to live that way. You never know what you’ll end up doing. Being more of a free spirited person I LOVE it. One of the reasons I homeschool is because I love to change things up in our day. We like a loose schedule but our routine is based on what the Lord has planned for us that day.
I cannot even recall all the friendships we’ve made that way and all the places we’ve visited just because we were open to whatever he had in store for us. I was impressed to share this because one of our prayers was answered today and I couldn’t keep the excitement all to myself.
Last night was Sunday and I planned out my week. Wrote it all down and was ready to conquer my list the following morning. I woke up at 3 that night not feeling so well. So I went downstairs to spend some time with Jesus. I felt like I should pray over my family and our neighbors, after about an hour I headed back to bed. In the morning my mother called and asked me what we had planned, I sighed and told her the list was endless but the desire and motivation was a bit lacking haha. We hung up and I decided to start with what brings me the most joy and that currently, is to mess with my plants. I bought a few trees and they needed to be transplanted. I got all ready for that and went outside but for some reason I found myself standing under our tree in the front yard, gazing out onto the neighbor that was mowing his lawn. Next thing I know I saw him get down to the ground and lay on the hill that he was mowing. I’ve drove by their place before and I knew he was an elderly gentleman. I quickly grabbed a stroller for my baby and told my oldest son to come with me. We headed over and rang the door bell. Sure enough they were an elderly couple that lived there, the man admitted that he needed some help with his lawn. Turns out he is seventy six years old and has heart issues. My son quickly offered to bring his mower over and finish the rest of their yard. It took him some time because it was really over grown but he managed to do it and do it well. In the meantime I had a chance to talk with the elderly couple and get to know them a little bit. Turns out that they usually have a guy coming and doing their yard but for some reason they haven’t heard from him in a few weeks. So the man decided to do it himself, but his health is not where it used to be so it wore him out, especially being out there in the heat of the day. They were so grateful for my sons help. They got to meet all my kiddos and we exchange numbers.
As we finished up and said goodbye to Ms. Carolyn she said “thank y’all I think you really saved that old man, from a heart attack today”. We laughed it off and told her how happy we were to help him out. But now that I’m writing all this down, I’m wondering if our quick response of obedience actually had some truth to her words. What if his health was at such a point that something may have happened to him? What if at three in the morning it was him that I was interceding for? What if I didn’t get up and pray in the middle of the night? The what if’s can go on. But I guess we won’t really ever know but one thing I do know is that the relationship with them is an absolute answer to our prayers.
A little over two years ago I felt lead to go to the park near by. It was supposed to be a super quick trip because I was a bit exhausted and overwhelmed from all the events that have been going on in our home one after the other (literally for two months straight) none stop. That morning, I said goodbye to our last overnight visitors and was really looking forward to just crashing. Haha but the Lord had other plans. At the park as we were heading to our car to leave, I saw an elderly lady and felt something but I told myself “not today I am just way to tired” I passed her, said hello and kept on walking. As we got closer to the car I noticed one of my kids was missing so I turned around to see where he was. I ended up making eye contact with her and of course she made a comment and started a conversation. Turned out that she was Russian, we ended up taking a good bit. The kids were all ready to leave and the Lord told me to invite her over for tea. After a few minutes of debating with him I finally invited her. She agreed and followed me home. That started a one year relationship for us, we called her ”Babushka Masha” she dropped by to visit us many times and we loved to help her out with translating papers or phone calls, taking her to appointments or anything else she may have needed. The last time I saw her I was about to give birth to my last baby. That day she told me she had a huge lump on her back and it was bothering her so much that she could not be up on her legs for very long. We said our goodbyes and I never would have thought, that I would never see her again. Shortly after that I had Josiah and apparently at that same time she had found out that she had cancer. By the time I recouped enough to give her a call and invite her over, someone else answered her phone and broke the horrible news to me, that she had passed away. Two or three months after she found out she had cancer. We were so sad. We began to pray for another “Babushka” or an elderly couple to come into our life that we could love on.
About a month ago my grandma also passed away and I began to pray that prayer again. Well today when we met Mr. Keith and Mrs. Carolyn I feel like our prayer has been answered. I am so excited to be of any blessing to them and to be the best of friends for them in this season of their life. In my last entry I shared about how we missed going to the senior center with the kids. To interact and do our part in caring for the elderly. Oh how happy I am that those seniors came to us, just a house down from ours. I’m sure God has great plans for our friendship.
Sometimes I get so caught up in all the to do’s and urgent needs of our day to day life that I miss out on these precious moments that Jesus has for us. I am so happy for reminders like today to stop occasionally and quickly go and answer his prompting.
Also after my grandmother passed away the kids and I came across a show on discovery plus called “one small step” we’ve been watching it together periodically. In one of the episodes the lady asked another lady “what is one small step that we can take?” Her response was “don’t think too much” that resonated with me because I feel like one of the reasons we sometimes end up “missing” or “disobeying” the voice of Jesus is because we think ourselves out of it. “Oh he’s fine now, by the time we get there he’ll be in the house and probably feeling much better” or “I’ll see her (Babushka Masha) again sometime here at park again, I have before, so I’ll just talk to her next time” but who knows if there wouldn’t be a next time. In Babushka Masha’s case we met her in January of 2019 and she passed away exactly a year later in January of 2020. We would have missed out on so much if I allowed my body to override my Spirit that day. I’m sure I have done it in some case and now I don’t have anything to share about because I waited too long and missed my chance but I don’t want to dwell on that. I want to look ahead and see what God has for me next. I’m so excited for his love and care for every single one of us. I may not have all the answers but I know he’s near and will never leave me. I choose to grow and learn as time goes by. I hope you will choose to do the same today. Pray about what God might have for you and your family and “don’t think too much” when you feel impressed about something or when you just see a need. Run for it and fill it and you will be the one blessed though it. Trust me.
Blessings dear friend. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing in this excitement with me.
Natty.