when God redirects your focus, 6 ways to be prepared

Last night, I ended up at the emergency department with my eldest, due to a freak kitchen accident. Grinding sea salt. (And yes, you read that right!)

The pop sound we heard led to several minutes of “what should we do” conversation between everyone else in the house.

I heard Him say, “Go to emerge.”

And with a sigh, I obeyed. (And I am clearly depending on God to get me up at 5:30am this morning to catch my bus to get to work on time!)

We learned a few important lessons that I feel prompted to share.

1. Be prepared to wait.

2. Be prepared to be around sicker people than you are (which also can lead to point #1.)

3. Be prepared with appropriate clothing. I did have an extra shirt on which saved my daughter’s high school band sweater from being cut to make room for the cast (we are still not too sure til Friday exactly what is going on, refer again to point #1.) However, I was in my evening sweat/jammies, and forgot to wear my undies. Much to my daughter’s embarrassment. (I assure you, I did NOT let anyone else know that, but several people must have thought us weirdos for our random giggling as we waited. But now everyone who reads this will know.... 😂)

4. Be prepared to have unusual conversations with other people. We met a nice gal who was bucked off & kicked by her horse, saw a man with a walking cast and a rare Italian name, a few vomiters, and a nurse with a similar sense of humour.

5. Be prepared for the unexpected. Like hurting yourself grinding fresh sea salt. (We are still laughing hysterically even now at the looks on the doctor & nurse’s faces when we shared how this occured. My #gingersnap set a new standard for kitchen injuries!)

6. Be prepared to meet God in the messy, hysterical situation. I had a clear sense He was with us as we walked in to the ER, again. Each time, I learn something new about His care for us as I lean into Him when I focus on doing what He asks me to do!

PS. Photo shared with permission. What you can’t see is the wide smile as we giggled about our umpteenth ER photo. (it’s tradition!)

#hopefortheharddays