"O Taste and See that the Lord is good!" - Ps. 34:8

Monday, June 11, 2012

Food Poisoning and God's Schedule

Paul was out of town this last week, so we decided to go out to dinner Thursday night on the way home from picking him up at the airport.  We had some "free kids' meal" coupons, and we thought it would be fun to have a nice dinner to celebrate his homecoming.

About 30 minutes after we ate, I started feeling sick to my stomach, and by Friday it was clear that I had some type of food poisoning.  I ended up spending all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday completely out of commission.  Praise be to God that I am feeling much better today!

To be completely honest, I was not a bit happy about being knocked out by this unexpected kink in my plan. I was mad at the restaurant and upset that I lost more than two days of productivity.  I had my agenda for the weekend, and it didn't include getting sick.

I often struggle to adjust to God's plan for my days when it is so dramatically different than what I had planned.    I know in my head that His plan is absolutely perfect, and I know that He works all things together for His glory and my good, but I am being sanctified as I learn to submit to His agenda for my days instead of insisting on my own agenda.  I'm learning that there is a big difference between just adjusting mentally and truly submitting with all my heart and mind.  As I lay on my bed wrestling with my attitude, the Lord kept reminding me of the verse that says, "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."(Ps. 139:16)

All the days ordained for me...even the ones with food poisoning.

I can be such a slow learner, but God in His wisdom used this last weekend to teach me more about what it means to submit to His schedule and to listen to His truth in the midst of the unexpected changes and adjustments.  Thank God for His unfailing love and tenderness as He draws each of us along, for He knows exactly what He wants to teach us in every moment that He gives us life and breath.  Sometimes those teachable moments come from unexpected speed bumps like food poisoning.

There is one other unexpected blessing that came out of being laid up for a few days.  I finally finished a book I've been working on for 10 months!

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

Dangerous stuff...I had it once in 1992, and it nearly killed me. Sickest I've ever been. Glad you're feeling better.