Just You Wait

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Over the years, this has become one of my life verses. And not because I love sitting back and letting the Lord do exactly that, it's because I need the reminder more than most. I love taking action. Need a door kicked down? I'm happy to come do that. Michael operates in a similar way. But I love that, here in Exodus 14, in what should feel like an action-packed moment, God is quintessentially telling Moses to chill and wait for Him to do His thing.

Be still. He says.

While the formidable Egyptian army is pursuing the very people Moses hoped to save...

While every other leader among the tribes ran out of ideas...

As the people grew frantic and desperate...

Be still. God commanded with a promise.

Can you imagine what Moses thought in that moment? After all, since returning to Egypt, he had done nothing but take action. I wonder if he doubled checked to see if he heard God right. (We've all done that, haven't we?) He may have also felt extreme pressure to come up with a response, a plan - and a tactical one at that. I imagine there were people around him starting to pick up the few weapons they had at their disposal, ready to take action at any moment.

Be still. Wait.

It's what God whispered to me the day after Michael was intubated a little over a week ago. Just be patient. There is a shift happening.

We didn't see it right away. On the surface, his condition seemed to worsen for a few days. But yet, no fear crept in. God told us to not do anything else to try and stop the bleeding.

So we waited.

We remained still.

And here's what God did.

The bleeding stopped. Not paused, stopped. It has now been two weeks since the last blood transfusion and two weeks since his hemoglobin has not just remained steady, it has increased on its own each day. That is incredible all on its own, but given that immobility, hospitalization, and chemotherapy all can cause hemoglobin to drop even in someone who hasn't had internal bleeding, it's stunning. God did that.

His lungs dried out. Michael passed the test to get off the vent. And while the team had recommended keeping it in longer to be on the safe side, we both felt that after 7 days, he was ready to come off of it. They warned us that he could have to be intubated again or would likely need the bi-pap machine, but praise God, he only needed the nasal cannula for some additional oxygen for several days, but he's now free of all oxygen support!

His blood pressure normalized. Less than a week after being extubated, Michael was also taken off all pain medications, all IV drips, including a medication that kept his blood pressure from getting dangerously low. Because of that, he was able to move out of the ICU and back onto the oncology floor for a few days.

The cancer is retreating quickly. He finished his second 5-day round of chemotherapy, and we are so thankful that he did not face the difficult or heavy swelling that he did during the first round. Even more significant, is that his tumor markers were over 175,000 prior to starting the first 5-day round of chemotherapy, and when they tested just a couple day's into the second round, it was already down to 19,000.

He is healing. For the last week, he's been walking and moving around a little more each day. He's has not had any new blood clots, and his liver, kidneys, and heart are all strong.

And today, on day 50, he gets to come home.

"There was no way, until You made one."

I just love those lyrics. They apply to everyone of us in any seemingly impossible situation. Financially. Relationally. Physically. Spiritually. Sometimes God calls us to take action. Sometimes He calls us to be still. But He doesn't ever want us to be left guessing. To know, to truly know how He's speaking requires spending time in His presence, abiding with Him. It means pausing all other voices and listening for His. And then obeying when He speaks even if it's the only dissenting voice.

So if God says wait, but things start to look worse, you set your eyes above, you take Him at His word, and you obey in full submission.

You wait without doubt.

You wait without fear.

You wait in full faith.

And in the waiting you will experience a joy and a hope that man can’t take from you.

That in itself is a miracle.

Lord, I am so amazed at how you work. It's not at all how I think, on my timeline, or my agenda. But it is so much better. It's always perfect. Always on time. Always what we need. I am so grateful that when you lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, we don't leave unchanged. Thank you for doing that new thing. All glory and honor to you.