Clinging To God

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (II Kings 4)

“Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet,” II Kings 4:27

“Your blog has been quiet lately?” My friend, Andrea, and I were chatting in my office. She looked at me a bit inquiringly.

I thought, “My blog may be quiet, but my head feels like it is about to pop. So many things are going on in my brain, how can I verbalize them?” I wanted to share but sometimes words can’t express multitudes of emotions.

We sold our motor home down in Illinois last week. It was time, but selling it marked the end of some very special and sentimental times in our lives. I wanted to process that through with the Lord and write about it, but it was too big a part of my life’s journey to do quickly. I leave it with Him.

On the way home we stopped in Madison to pray with a dear friend who was sitting in the hospital beside her dying husband trying to hear what the Lord was telling her. A week later he went to be with Jesus on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. She and her three children are left to ponder what the future will look like without him. How do you process something like that? God knows, I don’t. All I can do right now is weep and weep for my sweet friend, Julie, and her dear children.

Saturday I spoke to a group of women at a lovely Mother – Daughter brunch. The topic was “JOY: Zero Between Jesus and You.” I brought my clothes hamper and spoke to them about how comparison hampers joy.

I wanted to convey to each one how beautiful they are in God’s eyes and how they don’t need to compare themselves to others. They listened and nodded but did the message reach their hearts? Only God knows. But He does know and He cares so much for each one. I can leave it with Him or I can try to, at least. Why am I so emotional about reaching ladies I don’t even know with these truths?

Two weeks ago, my niece and nephew’s dog had to be put to sleep. Barb wrote, “He went to ‘Milkbone Heaven.” Keno was like a child to them and they held him as his life left him. Death, I hate it. Paul said, “The last enemy is death.” Truer words were never spoken.

My daughter who went through breast cancer last year is about to leave for Zambia for three weeks with her husband, their two oldest children and twelve college students. They are leaving the two youngest Rachel – 9, and Joseph – 2, with us. I wrote about this in “Smiling At the Future In the North Woods” in January. Talk about emotions.!

I just saw an advertisement in my Travel magazine that said, “Maybe the road to happiness isn’t a road.” The Proverbs 31 woman “smiles at the future.” I know this and I believe this and that’s what I’m trying to do. But my head still feels too full of the throbbing emotions of life to process coherently right now. The road to happiness isn’t a road that is always marked clearly. Sometimes the trail looks like it goes in many directions and which one do we follow?

Today I read about a woman who knew exactly what to do with her emotions – the Shunammite woman of II Kings 4. This dear lady understood spiritual things. She is called a “notable” woman. She and her husband invited Elisha to eat with them when he traveled through Shunem where they lived. Elisha passed by often and she suggested to her husband that they make a small upper room for him. She put a bed and a table and a chair and a lamp in it. Whenever Elisha came by, he “turned in there.”

Elisha was grateful and wanted to do something for her. He talked to his servant, Gehazi, about it. Gehazi said, “Actually she has no son and her husband is old.” And so, Elisha told her that in a year she would have a son.

The son was born and one day he was working in the field and said to his father, “My head, my head.” The father said, “Carry him to his mother.” I think he knew that she would know what to do. The child died on his mother’s lap. Death again….! She did know what to do. She didn’t talk to anyone about her exploding emotion -filled head. She went to the man of God and clung to him. What happened? Read the story in II Kings 4. It is so powerful!

Once again I see the relevance of the Bible to every situation in life. We may not be able to process all the things happening in our lives. The path ahead may not be clear. The road to happiness may look like it splits off in many directions. But we can follow the example of the woman who lived in Shunem by fleeing to God and clinging to Him.

Andrea and I talked about the summer and what activities to enroll her children and our grandchildren in. Lots of things were rolling around in our heads, but at that moment we needed to get the children registered.

After she left, I thought– When the road to happiness gets emotional and confusing, it is nice to have friends who meet you along the way. Friends who are kind enough to stop in and say, “Your blog seems a little quiet.”

Julie will need to be the Shunammite woman who flees to God day after day after day. But maybe I can follow Andrea’s example and be a friend who cares and stops in along the way.