Happiest of Mothers Day "Smooth The Sheets" 2 Kings 19-21; John 4:1-30

                                                                                                                                         He was sitting at the edge of my bed this Mother's Day morning                                                                                                  as I could only dream about my 4 kids and their 5 kids. These 9 are in my heart always.                                                                                           They are scattered about in Park City, Kansas City, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio.                                                                 I'm honoring the other Mom's in my life in Plano this Mother's Day.                                                               

He is reading the note that someone just handed me.
He is watching over me as I painfully lay me down to sleep.
He is listening to every remark made by them or me.                                                                                           He is guiding me how to "mother" my world.

He is superintending my world, your world too. 

So spread out the sheets. Smooth them with a swipe of your hand and heart.                                                       It was 1990 and I waited in a crowded ER room at the hospital in Lewisville. Sobbing, heaving crying.       I could see the baby's heartbeat on the monitor but the reproductive endocronologist said that they had to take the baby immediately or I would die. It was 1990. I wasn't given a choice.  They took the baby trapped in an ectopic pregnancy inside of me.  The hospital would not give me the baby back to bury. They sent the baby to research. Wouldn't say if it was a boy or a girl. I heard that news after the surgery when I had little fight left in me. I remember well smoothing the sheets flat as I hopped onto the hospital bed.  And I begged Him to stay with me through the surgery.  One year later, the same scenario would happen but I refused to let them take that baby. I begged and begged---I knew this Dr. Smith well.  It's another story for another day.  They let me keep that baby, jeopardizing my very life. That baby's name is Britt. And that was the happiest Mother's Day for me. Truly, they all are! I couldn't be more thrilled than to be called a mother and to make it to the place where I am today.  I didn't think I would make it --- in so many ways.                                                                                                                                                      Invite Him to sit with you right where you are---whether it's in a hospital bed or at a breakfast table.

That's just what Hezekiah did: 

"Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord
and spread it out before the Lord.  2 Kings 19:14-16.

"And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.  Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God." 

Hezekiah prayed in the battle and rested in the struggle.

PHOTO:  This is a smoothing out place.  It's a place where I stood and smoothed out the blanket and invited Him to sit a while with me. One of my lowest lows. Resting in the struggle.  Headed back to that place May 20th in Hico.