Chill - I Got This

My Bible Study class is working our way through the 10 commandments and really fleshing them out. Each week, we cover a different commandment - how it looked back in the day versus how it appears for us. This week we're studying Exodus 20:8-11: 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: ⁹ You are to labor six days and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

In the pre-study material, the writer of the lesson suggested sabbath rest required trust in God to provide. Working only 6 days, much like tithing 10%, requires a belief in the Lord to make up on what we are missing. This led me to write the following:

A few years ago  my dad got called into work during an ice storm. His job included driving a snow plow and clearing the roads. This call wasn't unusual, but I'm not being melodramatic when I say the moment his foot slipped on the changed his life forever. 


My daddy went into work on Christmas 2010 because the roads were iced over and someone had to clear them. He slipped and fell - fell so hard that he tore his rotator cuff and his bicep.The first workman's comp doctor gave him ibuprofen and told him to just give it time.  After months of waiting, he finally demanded another doctor.  Surgery was in the spring.  Physical therapy,  and time off work eventually led to what he now calls "refirement" - retirement his employer chose for him.

During this time, I felt the weight of each step on my shoulders. I worried, cried, and got angry whenever he would call with an update. Looking back, I feel ashamed for my lack of trust in God. He showed up in a big way to provide for my parents through it all.

Between the manna of worker's comp checks while he was still going to doctor's appointments and physical therapy, and the mixed blessing of my mother's work schedule being upped from 3 to 5 days a week, the Lord always provided.

My dad is free to take his aging siblings and parents-in-law to their doctors appointments. He's also free to drive to my sister's house (about 2 hours away from where we live) to babysit the kiddos when my sister and BIL have school functions. 

Last summer, my dad's garden exploded with more produce than we could eat. Rather than let it spoil, my mamaw taught he and Jay how to can. My parents also made homemade salsa from their garden produce.

I may never taste manna like the Israelites, but when I eat my daddy's canned green beans, I get a pretty clear picture of what it was like for them in the wilderness hearing God speak:

Just chill. I got this.