"God Was Here"

You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay Your hand upon me. 
Psalm 39:5


It's pretty amazing when you see God. When it's so obvious He's working things out for you. He's not shy about announcing it when He sees fit... it's like He takes a big can of spray paint and writes..."God was here" all over your life. It's unmistakable.

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"No! I don't want to learn to scuba dive!," my 8th grade son adamantly protested.

"Why not? The teacher really wants you to do it. What happened? Was it because the instructor was rude to you?," I asked, hoping he'd change his mind for the teacher's sake.

"No I just don't want to..."

"Fine," I said, thinking I wasn't going to try to force him. Besides, I thought it had something to do with the instructor getting on to him, the day before, in front of the other kids.

He later ended up going on the scuba diving field trip with the class, but wasn't able to participate in the dives they planned.  He had a great time anyway, kayaking with the dolphins and staying on a yacht.


Fast forward four years...

My son was now a senior in high school and laying in a hospital bed two hours from home. The surgeon came in and started explaining what his condition was and the procedure they'd be doing. He would need surgery. His lung had collapsed. He had bubble-like air pockets on it. They'd need to operate and cut them off and get his lung to stick to the chest wall to try to keep it from majorly collapsing which could be life threatening. They'd need to do this to both lungs eventually, but planned to operate on the one that had collapsed. Evidently this was something he was born with.

The surgeon informed us, that after the treatment, there'd only be a few things he wouldn't be able to do. He wouldn't be able to be a fighter pilot or astronaut and he wouldn't be able to... scuba dive! SCUBA DIVE!! It was as if God was right there in the room.

That was why he had been so stubborn about it ...God had put it in his mind to keep him from scuba diving. His lungs wouldn't have been able to stand the pressure and would have burst. I was amazed and so thankful as well as strengthened to go through this trial with my son. I was already under a lot of stress. It is true that God doesn't put you under more than you can handle.

Now let me tell you how involved God was with every detail.

About four months before the collapse, my husband and I separated. The kids and I went to stay with my mother and he got a small house. It was a pretty cramped space at my mom's. My three girls and I were sharing a room and my son was sleeping on a roll-away bed in the living room. It was hard for all of us. But my son had a real hard time because he didn't have any privacy or quiet place to go to get away.

I was  worried, upset, stressed, and emotionally drained. I was dealing with a lot of stuff. I didn't have the emotional strength or courage to even try to get a place. I had no job, the only income I was receiving was child-support from my husband, and it wasn't much. And yet I needed to do something. It was just too crowded.

One evening I felt a really strong urge to pray for a place. I shut myself into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. I said, "God, I need You to supernaturally give me the courage to even try." I was weak. A voice said to go to Isaiah 49. I did and I came across this in verse 20... "This place is too small for me; give me a place where I may dwell." I thought, oh wow! Then I said, "Lord if this is You, please confirm it. I felt impressed to open my Bible and when I did, my eyes fell on this... And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha," See now the place where we dwell with you is too small for us..." I knew, then, God would help me.

So I began looking. There weren't a whole lot of places available. The next evening my daughter called, she had found a place on Craigslist. A small two bedroom apartment. I called about it and since most people complained about the number of kids I had, I asked the landlord if he thought 4 kids were too many. He didn't. I went to apply the next morning.  When I showed up, I was so worried that he'd start asking about my financial situation, but he didn't! Whew! I was relieved. I sent him the application and waited. After a week I gave up. Then he called and said my references had come back good and that in a week or two I could move in. I didn't have a job or even a provable income, but he rented the place to me.

After waiting a couple weeks, I was excited to finally get the keys. I went inside and thanked God for giving us this place. It was Friday and I wouldn't be able to move in until Sunday.

 My sister and I and a bunch of our kids were heading down to Sacramento for a Christian concert that same night. I would be seeing my favorite group and I was so excited! This place had once been our old stomping grounds where we used to see heavy metal and rock bands... it would be awesome to go there to worship God. Overcoming evil with good.

During the concert, right after my favorite band played, my daughter received a text from first aid. They had my son and he was in severe pain. I came in and stood by him and prayed silently... his pain eased up a lot right then. He'd been having it for about 45 minutes. He had to go by ambulance to the hospital. They ran tests and found the problem, then sent him to U.C. Davis.

When this happened and I found out he had to have surgery, I just kept thinking- God prepared a quiet, private place for my son to recover. He kept my son from scuba diving and I'm sure that spared his life. He allowed for us to be in Sacramento near the best hospital. Out of pure kindness on His part, He even allowed me to have a joy-filled time seeing my favorite Christian band before this all happened. Right there I could see just how BIG God was, and just how extremely loving He was. How He had everything in His control. Everything! And He was with me every step of the way. And with my boy.


Thank You, God.


* My son is doing well now.