Ordered Steps

I stepped onto the treadmill this morning, stuffed my earbuds in, cranked the speed up as high as my aching hips and knees could tolerate, and tapped the play button on my 95.9 The Ranch app.  Parker McCollum is singing his hit song "Hell of a Year".

No kidding.  I looked around the garage to see if some extraterrestrial DJ was running the show.  In all honesty, I've been thinking about Dec. 22 for weeks and trying to organize the most important thoughts to include in this post to mark that Cancer Call that many of my kin and friends know too well.

Here are some things I did not know one year ago...

• Cancer has touched almost every living human being on the planet.
• Breast cancer survivors are everywhere. So many women in my personal world and my school world have suffered.
• Once I was "called",  I was powerless.

Here are some things I learned this year...

• The Supreme Being, God Almighty, ordered the steps of my life from the time my mother and her sister, Bobbye, gave birth to two girls one month and one day apart.
• He allowed me to wander sort of like the Israelites until He delivered me by way of a soulmate who would love me unconditionally and in sickness and in health for real.
• He ordered the steps of Harry & Carron Brown through the doors of Texstar Ford, bringing me not only a spiritual port in this storm but an Angel to light the way for me through this journey of surgeries and doctors.
• He ordered the steps of His people.  They came into my life in droves from places I've never even been.  They came physically.  They came spiritually.  Cara Wilson came from Ovid, Colorado.  Kirk Matthews prayed relentlessly from Paris, Texas.  Praying people, many of whom I have yet to meet, whispered my name to The Father until it must have been thunderous in His ears!
• None of the things I learned are important like this one:  The decision to be washed in The Blood was the only step that mattered.

One night after I was home but still confined to my recliner, Cara Wilson shared a link to a song that I can only describe as my battle cry.  Everyone needs a battle cry.  You may not know it yet, but if you walk this earth very long you'll need one.  I posted the words in this blog a few months ago.

Tenth Avenue North sings, "I Have This Hope in the depth of my soul.  In the flood or the fire, You're with me and you won't let go."

It's a take on God's promise to Jacob in Isaiah 43 where he tells Jacob, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you;  I have called you by your name; You are Mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." 

This feeling of safety is familiar to me.  I remember where I was when Mama Ruth died.  Menielle and I had been sent to Bamo and Dandy's house in San Angelo to stay while our mom's took care of their mother.  When the phone call came I remember the both of us climbing up into the recliner with Dandy.  We were 10ish, so that chair was full. John Petty put his big arms around us and just held us.

The message for me is that my strength does not matter.  Even when I can't hold on, it's God's strength we're talking about here. 

And that, my friends, is infinite.

Today, I'm praying for the sweet family of William and Cori Moore, and for the comfort and peace of Deborah & Barney.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Jodie