Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. – Isaiah 41:10
I spent Tuesday afternoon packing a bag to take to the hospital. I was scheduled to have major surgery the next morning. I was not sure what to pack, because even though my hospital stay was expected to last five days, the hospital staff had given me very little instruction.
After praying extensively about the surgery, I was still a little nervous because I had a feeling of helplessness. I would be put to sleep the next day and not have control over what would take place. Then I would have to rely on others for a while. Not knowing a simple thing such as what to pack just added to this feeling of helplessness.
Before going to bed that night, I prayed and asked the Lord to take charge of the situation for me. I asked Him to watch over me and protect me during the surgery and the recovery period afterwards. I even asked Him to let me know if my bags were packed with the right things.
The next morning, while getting ready to leave for the hospital, I came across an outfit that I had not seen in a while because it had been put away in the wrong drawer. A pressing thought came to me to exchange this outfit for the one in my suitcase, so I did.
The surgery went well, but there were some concerns during my hospital stay. The feeling of helplessness began to overwhelm me and I wondered if the Lord had taken charge and was watching over me as I had asked.
Several days after the surgery, the staff allowed me to start wearing my own clothes. I was so comforted by the thought of being able to wear something familiar that reminded me of home. Once my own outfit was on, the nurse began reattaching the tubes that she had removed from my arms earlier. While watching her, it occurred to me that the original outfit I had packed had long sleeves which were snug at the wrist. If I had brought that one, it would have been impossible to wear because of tubes that were connected to me. Right then I knew that the Lord had taken charge of my care—including my comfort—since before I had even left the house.
I was in a situation where I could not help myself. I was not helpless, though. Today, let’s choose not to be helpless. Let’s give God charge over every situation that comes our way.