We're not in Control

We made a big announcement about moving to England and then went quiet.  You may wonder what we're doing during this time of waiting for January to come.  The answer is we're being molded, shaped, and taught by our Savior...a particular lesson that I apparently need to be taught over and over again.  

I'm a type A personality and prefer to have things planned in advance.  Whether it's meals for the week, how to divide up all I need to get done on days off work, vacations, schedules, etc, you better believe I'll plan it.  I find this comforting.  Then God does something like call us to England for a few months....or a few years.  If it's not in my plan, it can be difficult to accept.  And then this happened:

Monday, April 27, a pale and sweating Andrew woke me at 7am and told me he was in pain.  He'd woken at 5am, and after two hours of consistent pain, decided it wasn't going away.  Even while half awake, my nursing instinct had me assess my "patient" and quickly realize his symptoms were consistent with appendicitis.  We drove to a nearby urgent care, where he was seen and promptly instructed to go to the Emergency Room.  I drove him down to the hospital where I work.  Following a CT scan to confirm appendicitis, preparation for surgery began.  Andrew had surgery early afternoon, came out of anesthesia very well and we were send home about 5:30 that evening.  He's still not fully recovered, but pretty close and doing really well.

The entire day was almost entirely out of our control.  We had no control over when this happened.  Yet the timing was really quite good.  Andrew had major commitments the previous two days, and I had that Monday and Tuesday off from work so was able to care for him both days.  We had no control over healthcare workers but only saw fantastic doctors and nurses.  Surgery was out of our control but went smoothly, as has Andrew's recovery.  He experienced no unpleasant side effects from anesthesia.

As much as I like to feel like I'm in control, when I can let go and recognize that God is truly in control, it's so comforting.  The God who created the cosmos, the variety in spring flowers, bodies that can heal from surgery, who changes the seasons, whose command causes the planets to orbit, who died that I may be free...that's who's in control.  I mess up and get overwhelmed by the little I try to control, but the God who never slumbers nor sleeps will not let my foot slip; He will watch over my coming and going both now and forevermore (Psalm 121).  And that's the God that we're going to follow to England in January.