We promised to share some of the God stories as we walk this journey and today we intend to do just that with a God story from near the very beginning.
On Sunday, February 5th we shared with our church family that I had been undergoing some testing including a biopsy and needed prayer. We also let them know that I would likely not hear anything about results until Tuesday morning.
On Monday morning, I received a text message from a fellow church member saying she would like to bring over a couple loaves of her delicious homemade bread and to pray with me. I graciously thanked her and told her I would be around all day. She dropped by shortly after 10AM with still warm bread. We cried and prayed together before going our separate ways to each care for our boys. As I went back into our house, I was wondering what I was going to do with this bread; while I knew it was delicious, I had a plan for dinner for the next several days and none of them would benefit from adding these loaves to them. We continued about our day and I figured I would make a plan for the bread later.
The rest of the day continued on as normal or as normal as it can when you know that you’re about 24 hours out from knowing what you are facing. At 4:30 I put bacon in the oven and began to prep loaded cauliflower soup for dinner before basketball practice. But before I got much more than the bacon in the oven, my phone rang and it was the hospital. After answering, I ran upstairs to where Andy was working from home so he could be with me if I happened to get results early or if I needed to take a nap or if I wanted process everything that had been happening, so we could hear the news together.
The nurse revealed that each of the three biopsies contained cancer. It was the news we didn’t want even though it is the news that we had been told to expect. The phone call ended and we sat a moment before Andy asked what I was thinking. Answering quickly I said, “Nobody likes burnt bacon.” Thankfully not hesitating, he ran down and pulled the bacon from the oven before coming back up to hold me as we processed the news we just received.
Very few minutes passed before we both realized that we needed to feed boys and get two of them to basketball practice. But what do you feed boys when all you have is bacon and how do you not stay together when your whole world feels like it is falling apart? Then, it dawned on me. God had brought us bread for today. He knew we were going to need to punt dinner. He knew we needed help. We gathered up those delicious loaves brought to us seven hours before, the bacon I had cooked, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise – that happened to all be in the fridge – and the boys before piling into the van to all go to practice as a family. Going all together meant we could feed the boys who weren’t practicing, then trade – we promise no one missed dinner – and Andy and I could be together to process our newest news.
God is good in the good times. God is good in the hard times. God knows what we need. God can provide for all those needs. Trust God for your daily bread – literal and otherwise.