...sheltered...

“I feel the touch of Hands so kind and tender,
They’re leading me in paths that I must trod;
I have no fear when Jesus walks beside me,
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.”

-Dottie Rambo

It was after midnight.  I could not sleep.  It had been a hectic week and a half--the oldest started off the activity with an allergic reaction that resulted in an ambulance ride (fortunately, his medication worked and all was well in the end, though his mother was a bit rattled till it was all said and done); the rest of us were passing illness through the house--one of the more frightening episodes being a bout of croup for the youngest that resulted in another emergency room visit; we had a lovely family reunion with my hubby’s family (blessedly unmarked by any hospital visits, although the kids and I were still tired and sick from the summer asthma/colds/croup that lingered), we had a nice visit with some out-of-state cousins we had not seen for several years; the usual summer work in the garden needed to be done; and we also began fall sports activities for the year...it was a week of ups and downs and little sleep.  This was the first night that I looked forward to an uninterrupted night of sleep since the craziness began...but it was not to be. 

The other half of my brain was awake too.  Unbeknownst to me, she was fighting her own battles in the bleak darkness of that night.  I dialed the phone, hoping i wasn’t going to wake her (due to the time difference, I wasn‘t sure if she would be asleep yet); but this night was dark and full of terrors; and, like Harold with his purple crayon, I suddenly felt a Great Need for Company.  I didn’t want to be a nuisance, but this night I was willing to take the chance.

“Rose, are you all right?  How did you know that I needed to talk to you?  But you first...what is going on?”

In the bleak blackness of that night, we walked beside each other--with thousands of miles between, but each with an arm under the other’s burden.  And somehow, our own burdens seemed to lift a bit as we shouldered each other’s.  Somehow from the darkness came the thought that “all may not be lost yet.” 

The circumstances that weighed on us and chased sleep far from us that night did not change.  The battles yet to be fought are many.  The weariness of another sleepless night was still there.  But in this “one-anothering” (to use a phrase coined by Mennonite author Simon Schrock) there was new strength to bear up under the burden.  Because we are not alone. 

Thank God, we have a Savior--a Savior who tells us, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:29-30.

“So let the storms rage high
The dark clouds rise,
They won’t worry me,
For I’m sheltered safely in the arms of God;
He walks with me, and naught of earth shall harm me,
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.”
 
-D. Rambo

Each time I talk to Anne, I am reminded anew of her frailty.  Her wheelchair and cane are now an accepted part of life.  She has acknowledged a bit ruefully that her spirit chafes a bit at this blow to her pride; but she speaks of it with grace and acceptance and a complete lack of self-pity.  It is simply what must be.  As I did a few years ago, again I find myself wondering how much time we have left...but it is okay.  That is in the hands of God too.  When it is our time to leave this earth...well, none of us knows just when that will be.  He will care for us then, and those around us as well.  We do not need to be afraid. 

Someday we will hear that call...and even then, we will still be sheltered in the arms of God...

“Soon I shall hear the call from Heaven’s portals
‘Come home my child, it’s the last mile you must trod,’
I’ll fall asleep, and wake in God’s new heaven
Sheltered safe within the arms of God.

So let the storms rage high
The dark clouds rise,
They won’t worry me,
For I’m sheltered safely in the arms of God;
He walks with me, and naught of earth shall harm me,
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.”
 
-D. Rambo

 (“Sheltered in the Arms of God,” written and recorded by Dottie Rambo)

The clouds are still hanging darkly above us...but we are sheltered safely in the arms of God.  I climbed back into bed and held my hubby’s hand in the darkness.  His fingers curled around mine and i finally fell asleep.