Don't Panic!

I'm flying solo this week.  Hubby has flown off to Connecticut on his first of 3 business trips this month.  I'll survive so don't worry about me.  I have enough on my plate to keep me occupied, but I'll be happy to have him home again Thursday night ... at least for a few days before he heads off again next Sunday.

I started my Monday morning reading my favorite little devotional, Jesus Calling.  Have you heard of this book?  It is the most delightful, inspiring and sometimes challenging little book and I honestly think everyone needs to be reading this each morning.  It never ceases to amaze me how Sara Young has captured the "thoughts" of Jesus to comfort, encourage and spur us on to a closer walk, focused on Christ.  It seriously is like each morning it absolutely prepares you for what is coming ahead on the day & equips you to handle it right.

This morning I read the passage and the main verse for the day was Isaiah 41:10.  This is how that verse reads from The Message:

Don't panic.  I'm with you.

There's no need to fear for I'm your God.

I'll give you strength.  I'll help you.

I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. 

Reading this verse, I was immediately taken back to the summer of 1993.  I had just turned 29 years old and was single.  I had just broken up with the divorced chiropractor I had been dating and was going through a mini mid-life crisis of sorts.  Thoughts of turning 30 were plaguing me (I'm going to be 30 soon... in 11 months and 2 weeks to be precise) and I had given up hope of ever being married.  I determined that summer that if God had determined for me to be single the rest of my days that I had better get comfortable doing things alone so I packed up my little white Toyota Corolla and hit the open road for Florida.

I remember driving to the US Border at Detroit where a big, burly black woman was manning the US Customs booth.

"Where are you from?" she asked me

"Toronto" I replied.

 "Where are you headed?"

"Florida"

"BY YOURSELF?"

At this point I'm thinking to myself, 'Um... do you see anyone else?  Actually I have someone stashed in the trunk!'  but of course I politely answered,

"Yes"

She looked over my birth certificate and handed it back and quickly I was heading on my way down the I-75 South without looking back... or thinking about the adventure I was embarking on.  In fact, it wasn't until I was driving through Dayton, Ohio (some 3 - 1/2 hours later) when it hit me.  WHAT am I doing???  The border guard's words came back to haunt my mind and I began wondering what I was thinking driving solo 1400+ miles on my own.

I had pre-booked a motel at the Kentucky/Tennessee border in Jellico, TN for the night.  I arrived safely in about 13 hours and quickly settled into my room before taking my Bible and "Daily Bread" devotional out onto the pool deck to watch the sun set behind the spectacular Appalachian mountains.  As I began to read in my devotional, I was led to Isaiah 41:10.  I read it in the New American Standard version:

'Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God  

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand' 

At that moment peace flooded over me.  I was not alone on this trip.  God had just told me He was with me and that I had nothing to fear.  I could stop panicking and looking "anxiously about".  I knew immediately that I was going to make it to Florida and back safely.  I was going to be just fine!

The next day, after driving through Georgia in 100 degree heat (with NO air conditioning in my car) I made it to my parent's mobile in Florida where I spent my week reading, walking the beach and sitting in the sand.  On the Friday night I went to see the opening weekend of Sleepless in Seattle by myself, feeling like I had just accomplished the biggest feat of my life.  I still wasn't able to go out to eat alone (which now I have no problem doing btw) but huge hurdles in self-sufficiency and maturity happened that week.  It truly was my "coming of age" trip and I would never have made it without the assurance that my God was holding me up with his "righteous right hand".

Wow... that was 17 years ago.  So much happened after that trip and I had no idea at the time that 12 months  later I would be 7 weeks from my wedding day.  God really does work in mysterious and unbelievable ways.  He constantly reminds me that I never need to panic because He's always got my hand!