In the midst of dealing with this incredibly painful, discouraging issue with my eye, I am certainly finding it important to remind myself of times the Lord has spoken to me in the past. Thought I'd share one of those with you today ...
A number of years ago, I had been going through another extremely demanding season of life. Besides the normal needs of a family of six, little Joy had nocturnal asthma that woke the both of us up every night at just about 1:00 AM for long rounds of medicine and steam showers to help her breathe. Our church was also going through a split, and along with the exhaustion I felt from those long nights, there was a sense of pressure and trouble pressing in on all sides.
Now, I am not given to symbolic dreams and have only had two in my whole life. But during this time, on one of Joy's good nights when I fell deeply asleep, I found myself awake in a dream in which God was talking to me. In my dream, I was sitting in my living room considering all the problems that were in my life and in the lives of those I loved—and there were some huge troubles, many of which seemed beyond solution.
In the midst of this, God came to me, reached out His large hand, and asked me to climb intoit.I stepped into the palm of His hand and very slowly and gently He began to take me up into the stars and among the galaxies. I remember that it was unspeakably beautiful. He then told me to look down to the earth, where I had been stewing and fretting about all the issues in my life. God asked me a single question:
"How big do your problems look from up here?"
I remember glancing down, straining to see the earth and my corner on it. My house and the people in my neighborhood were tiny as gnats, so that I could barely even see. I told the Lord that they appeared tiny indeed.
"Indeed," He said. "That is how big your problems are to me. I want you to have My perspective and know that compared to the issues of eternity, they are tiny. I can take care of them"
Then the Lord gently took me down to the earth and placed me back in my living room. And then I woke up and realized I had been dreaming. But the sense of "all is well" was all around me, invading my soul and driving my petty worries into the oblivion where they belonged. Though not a single situation had changed during my amazing dream, my circumstances no longer seemed overwhelming. They no longer had their former potency because they had been so far surpassed by God's presence.
.....
I wanted to update you today about my eye injury, so my friends and I recorded a short podcast for you. At the end, we briefly mention the new Lifegiving Parent Launch Community on Facebook. I need many of you to help me as I walk through this valley and struggle through this eye injury. Gretchen, Misty, and Jennie will guide you and provide ideas of how you can help me get the word out. Since this is a book written for both mothers and fathers, I would welcome help from men on our launch team as well. Come join us! We will have lots of fun getting to know each other and strategizing how to change the world! Expect the launch page to really get going after Easter. Thank you so much, friends, I could not launch this book without you.
