Red Sea Rule #8

Red Sea Rule #8: Trust God to deliver in His own unique way.

Morgan (the author) asks if God still does miracles, and answers positively, giving several examples. He goes on to say that, while miracles still happen, they are not common. Instead, "God helps His people in ordinary, providential ways rather than in supernatural ones." Aka, accidents, coincidences, etc.

For example, my choice of nursing school. I tried to contact several schools, but I was only successful at getting information from one of them. So that's where I went. I loved it, had an awesome nursing cohort, made some incredible friends, and was pleased to find out that my school had a great reputation with the hospitals in our area. And it was conveniently located near the hospital where I worked and got my cancer treatment, so I never had far to drive. Random chance? That's not how I interpret it.

Morgan goes on to say that God can deliver us from our difficulties in another way. Sometimes overt miracles, sometimes covert circumstances, sometimes in mysterious ways that we don't see or understand until later.

He quotes Vance Havner, "God marks across some of our days, 'Will explain later.'"

Last fall I did a Bible study on the book of Daniel. (He interpreted dreams, lived through a night in the lions' den, and his friends survived the fiery furnace.) One of the most impactful lessons was on the fiery furnace. Beth Moore, who wrote the study, said God always delivers His people, and posed three ways of deliverance from difficulty:

1) Deliverance from the "fire" - things change and you don't have to go through the difficult situation at all. This is the one we always pray for, but it's not the one that changes us into better people.

2) Deliverance through the "fire" - God takes you through the difficulty and teaches and refines you in the process. If you let Him. You could be changed for the bitter, too.

3) Deliverance by the "fire" - you don't make it through (as in, it kills you), but you are delivered into God's presence. Moore offers the lovely sentiment that these are people God can't wait to have in His presence. 

I just lost a friend to cancer. Mercifully, she was leading a pretty regular life until a few weeks ago, when they discovered the cancer had metastasized into her brain. When I saw her a week ago, she was mostly sleeping and not in any pain. While I'm sad that I don't get to enjoy her laughter and her snarky sense of humor any more, I'm thankful her final journey was quick and painless. And what a compliment to her and comfort to me to think that God didn't want to wait any longer to have her with Him. I love that her smile is lighting up heaven now.

A friend asked me today what I've learned from cancer. Where do I start? I could write a book! (Lots of people want me to, but I'm not so sure about that. It could be an American Idol audition thing: the people who love me think I'm fabulous, but is there any REAL talent there??? Haha.)

This is what I've started to learn that I don't want to lose: letting God set the course. This is infinitely challenging for my planning self, so I'm trying to put it into practice with my work life first. Here's the thing. I went into nursing school to be an oncology nurse. My path has been nothing like what I imagined. First of all, several years ago, I wouldn't have believed one word about me becoming a nurse. It's been a surprising and exciting journey. But now I'm working in an area that has no connection to oncology. The closest link is that I'm in the same building as my GYN surgeon. However, I'm not out there looking for a position in oncology. But you know what? I keep hearing about opportunities. Three in the last month, and today, another. This time, it's somewhere I've interviewed before, and they're asking me to come in again. This one would allow me to work both jobs (nurses do that), so I wouldn't have to leave my current job prematurely. Is this the one? I don't know, but I'm letting God deliver me out of oncology patient mode and into oncology nurse mode in His own unique way, in His unique time. 

I'll tell you this - it's a lot less stressful than doing it myself! :)