Life's curvy path

Life road has been filled with a great many blind curves this year. Stepping out in faith has been a greater challenge. But around each bend, God has been glorified!
It's been almost one full year since Russ left to go play in the great sandbox. Life was a bit more stressful than usual with him gone again but as usual we adapted and kept going. For the first few months life just hummed along at a nice even level. I began studies that would allow me to bear the title of Herbalist. And soon there after I began developing my own product line. Lots of discussing and emailing back and forth across the ocean had Russ and me truly planning our retirement. God has been clearly lighting our path. Then in April there were the wildfires and we nearly lost the house. The field to our north was lit by an ember blown in on the wind and the fire consumed close to an acre and crossed our property line. It was certainly a terrifying experience! God provided dear friends who let us stay with them, critters and all, for the night. Then in early May Lex came to me to share that things were far from right in her marriage and she was pregnant. We mourned the failed relationship, but rejoiced with the new life growing within her. God had helped her see danger before more harm could be done. July rolled around with my dad and Russ' mom both having surgery in the same week. Russ' mom had thyroid cancer, my dad had brain surgery to stop the tremors he had in his hands. Mom came through her surgeries great and has been given a clean bill of health! My dad suffered a stroke following his surgery, but after being nearly a vegetable, he has recovered enough to be back at home and continues to get better every day! God's peace and healing touch so obvious. Russ came home for two weeks in August and we had a whirlwind visit. It was definitely difficult to send him off again, and even more difficult for him to leave. But he made it both ways safely and we knew it was just a short time till he would be home for good! Lex began college courses online working toward her nursing/midwife certifications. At the end of October I got a call from my sister in law that my father in law had had a heart attack that morning. He got to the hospital quickly and they were able to stabilize him. He had surgery the next morning and a stint put in. Amazingly he was home the next day and is recovering well. Again God's provision with the right medical care and speedy recovery. Last week we had an electrical scare. We had some outlets quit working the others just suddenly stopped, and I thought we had thrown a breaker. When I checked the box it didn't seem as though any had popped. So I was then afraid we had wiring issues. That was on a Friday. Saturday morning Kerrie had gone to the laundry area to get the cats more food and came dashing back out saying frantically "mom it smells like burnt plastic back there!" And sure enough as I went to inspect things, I found a tendril of smoke coming from the lower panel of our water heater along with water in the drip pan. I quickly ran outside and tripped the breaker for the water heater to shut it off. Thank you Lord that the cats needed more food! I was getting a bit more distressed and feeling like the house was either going to fall in around my ears or spontaneously combust! I talked with a friend and she prayed peace and protection over us. I immediately felt better. The electrician was suppose to come out monday so I just trusted and waited. Monday noon rolled around with no word from the electrician so I called a friend whose husband does electrical work and he came out to check things over. Turned out that a breaker was tripped and nearly broken so it seemed like it was on and wasn't. Then the plumber came out to discuss installing a tankless waterheating system for us and what all that would entail. I got the go ahead from Russ to do the water heater. As my heart has returned to a normal speed and some of the tension has left my shoulders, I find that the timing of all of this couldn't be better! Lex is planning to do a home water birth and we were going to be struggling to keep enough hot water going with just a 50 gal tank. And what a blessing that all this happened during a season of good weather and well before baby's time to arrive! God's timing is always perfect! Life has once again returned to humming nicely. We are still without hot water, but my dear friend says we can come use hers as she already has a tankless system so there's plenty! Might just take her up on it a time or two in the next couple weeks while they work on ours! Lex was able to get permission from the dean to take her finals early since her due date is so close to the regularly scheduled time of finals. She and baby are doing GREAT! and are right on track. Mykhal and Kerrie are doing well in all areas but respectfully working together. It's an ongoing process there. But school is going well for them. They are both still enjoying their activities. And the weather has been so lovely that we get to enjoy weekly park days with friends! The icing on the cake is the short time remaining till Russ is home for good! And he should be hearing any day that his retirement has been approved!
I know that life's path will always be curvy. We will not ever be able to see everything that we will encounter. But if we keep our eyes focused on God, keep trusting Him to show us the next step, and hold on to His hand when we are afraid of where that next step will take us, then we can take those curves with joy in our hearts!
There's a fairly new song out by Casting Crowns that has the lyrics "...the only way that we will stand is on our knees with lifted hands...."

We're reaching high!!