Altered Plans

   A single phone call is all it takes sometimes. Life as you have grown to understand it is permanently altered by the end of that brief call. Most of you have experienced something like this or know someone who has. I remember getting into bed one Sunday evening. I had barely gotten the covers pulled up when the phone rang out in the dark. I knew the minute I said hello that life would never be the same. I could hear the sadness in my dad's voice as he fought for control. "Lisa, your momma passed away." he said, and that quick my world began to spin.
  It is unparalleled to anything I have ever experienced. I had already planned my life with her. She was going to be there to let me cry on her shoulder when each of my children started their first day of school. It was going to be her by my side when I helped my daughter shop for her wedding dress. In a flash though all those plans were taken away.
  No longer would I be able to call her and ask for a recipe or advice about how to handle a new phase that my children were in. Plans are altered and reality sets in. While pain unlike any I've ever experienced becomes a natural part of each day.
   Thanks to a strong faith in a loving and compassionate God, I was able to move through the loss and grow stronger with each passing day. Comfort from friends and a supportive church family provided me with strength through their constant prayers.
   With the close of January came another anniversary of the day we lost my mom. As I reflect on the seven years since that fateful call rang out in the dark, I am grateful that I and my family have experienced such healing. Though there are days when the pain is as real as it was that first night the news was delivered, days full of happy memories and joy in knowing that she is with my dear sweet Father in Heaven are far greater.
   This year, I spent the anniversary of my mom's death in a beautiful service saying good-bye to my husbands grandpa. Another phone call only days earlier had again brought unexpected change to our lives with the news of Papaw Ward's passing. As we traveled the many miles to be with our family, we reminisced about all the wonderful years we had shared with Papaw. There were tears, yes, but there were also laughs at the funny stories we remembered. Then we sat silently as each of us in our own minds began to think ahead at all the things that would forever be different.   
   Sometimes, life throws you a twist. What you expect will be the natural flow of events is disrupted by the unexpected. We tend to forget that we do not know exactly how the events of life will unfold. We do not control life. Only God is in control.
   It is a reminder that TODAY is our focus. Not tomorrow, or next week, or even a year from now. TODAY,  is our priority. Take each day that God has gifted us with and use it to his glory. Trust God with all the tomorrows, because His plans never have to be altered. God bless you.

   
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."
                                                                                                                             Matthew 6:34