God orders our steps

Sometimes we talk about leadings from God. We call them "hearing God's whisper" or "promptings" or "nudgings". Sometimes God speaks to our hearts and nudges us to do or say something. And other times He just does it without any notification to our conscience at all. Today was just such a day.

At my daughter's violin concert last night, my parents shared with me how they had gone to the hospital to see my Uncle Chuck yesterday, and how he was not doing well. I had learned that my uncle had been increasingly having difficulty breathing and eating, and my Aunt Delores took him to the hospital on Sunday evening. The doctors found a massive tumor completely taking over one lung and part of his esophagus. They were to learn this morning what kind of tumor it was.

So, as I made plans for my day today, I thought I'd go to the hospital first thing after the kids got on the bus, then run some errands, then work at church. After the bus pulled away, I found myself at the recycling center, and just decided to flip flop my day with a trip to the hospital last on my list instead of first. No reason. No nudging. Just made a new plan.

At twelve o'clock, after dropping off a gift to someone in the neighborhood, I pulled into Allen Hospital and found my aunt and cousins/spouses all in the room. My aunt and three cousins had spent the night with Uncle Chuck in the room, and I took about 5-10 minutes looking at Chuck resting peacefully and hearing the others tell me how he had struggled so to breathe yesterday and how the morphine had been keeping him comfortable and sleeping today. The reports had come back this morning that a very aggressive lung cancer was taking over. It had to be, as a scan last spring hadn't shown anything.

My aunt turned the conversation by asking me if our kids were excited for Christmas. We began to talk for about five minutes about Christmas plans and topics other than Chuck. In those few minutes, we had turned our attention away from him and on to one another. Suddenly, my cousin's daughter (who is a nurse) walked up to Chuck and called for her grandma. Chuck had stopped breathing and had slipped away in an instant. There were no indications that he had been about to take his last breath on earth. It was sudden and surprising. It was surreal. The family, who was on their third day with their husband/father/grandfather, instantly surrounded his bed and began to weep. My cousin, Diane, asked if I would pray. As we circled up and held hands, I was just overcome with God's power and sovereignty and care. God cared enough to orchestrate that moment so that I could be there to offer that prayer. It was a tender and holy time, and I was so grateful to have been there with the family.

How could it be that all of the desk work, errands, phone calls, and stop lights of the day would land me in that room in the exact moments that it did? I was reminded of this Scripture as I asked that question:

Proverbs 20:24
A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?