
Today I was driving to work and I was praying. I had my friend Becca on my heart....and her sweet nephew that needs our prayers. I was asking the Lord for protection of the baby and for the hearts of the parents....and I began to think about how all things are in God's hands ..even the the unimaginable...the events that seem so unfair. My prayer then turned to my own unimaginable...and my normal daily prayer for strength, peace, the feeling of securiy and for the Lord to remove my spirt of fear (which so often engulfs me)....became a prayer of thanksgiving. I began saying thank you to God for all He was and all He did during last May and in the months to come. I prayed "Thank you Lord for protecting my life and protecting me from worse injuries than those I endured. Thank you Lord for the amazing detectives who showed up and took on my case...for their relentless search and not giving up. Thank you Lord for my prosecutor and her amazing assistant; such a blessing to be working with amazing women. Thank you Lord for a man who loves me and helps me through my daily struggle of being scared. Thank you Lord for a family who loves and supports me. Thank you Lord for friends who have never stopped praying and surrounded me with love and gifts of flowers, letters, meals and their presence in my home for weeks after the attack. Thank you Lord for the fact that this horrible man is and has been in jail for almost a year and his bail has remained at $2 million and not dropped or lowered. Thank you Lord for the bravery of one woman...who came forward and gave us info that we needed to find this monster. Thank you Lord for the man who came to my rescue and called the police as my attacker drug me through the yard to his car. Thank you Lord for giving me the strength to find a way to see the positive in this situation..when I am so often weighed down by the negative. Thank you Lord for the doctor who cured my dizziness (vertigo) due to my head injuries and all the doctors and nurses that night in the ER. Thank you Lord for doctor friends who met us that night at the ER and greeted us at the car with a wheel chair and got us right in (knowing that I couldn't walk). Thank you Lord for the friends who met in the waiting room in the ER and prayed with my family all night. Thank you Lord for the kind nurse that held my hand as she collected DNA from my body that night. Thank you Lord for letting me meet a woman who too was brutally attacked...I was reading her book and and angel (friend) gave me her phone number...what an amazing feeling to be able to talk on the phone, on a regualr basis to the auther of the book you are reading. I am pleased to call Rosemary Tribble my friend...and I am thankful for her honesty in sharing her story with countless women.
A lot of thank you's right? As I said each "Thank you Lord".....my heart had this great feeling of joy come over it. I have thanked God throughout these months for each blessing, but I have never thanked him for all of them at once. I was overwhelmed by His sovereignty. He has never left me nor forsaken me..He has been there through it all.....and He always is for us. I was so happy after saying all my thank you's ...and I felt so blessed. It was very uplifting. The day I go into court for Jury Trial...I am going to get on my knees and say thank you for everything all over again....I believe in my heart that it will bring me so much peace to say those words again.
MY GOD HE WAS, MY GOD HE IS, AND MY GOD HE WILL FOREVER BE.
When I got to work...my daily devotional was quite appropriate....funny how God's timing is impecable.
"Sometimes, people get distracted by what they consider to be a disadvantage or weakness in their lives. It may be something about their personality or looks that they don’t like. Or maybe they’ve been through an unfair situation: a divorce, a bad business deal or a bad break. We all have things that can feel like disadvantages; things that make it harder on us. It may even be a physical handicap, and you can’t get around like you used to. But just because you have a “disadvantage,” just because you’ve been through a tough time doesn’t mean you’re supposed to sit back and settle where you are. God still has something great for you to do! He wants to show Himself strong in and through you, and He’s given you His Holy Spirit to equip you in this life.
Today let the Holy Spirit help you when you feel weak. Let Him empower you with truth that will set you free. Stay in faith and don’t get negative toward yourself or your future. Let God take what you think is a liability and turn it into an asset! Let Him take what you think is a disadvantage and turn it around to be an advantage! Remember, you are more than a conqueror today and every day because He is strong in you!" (Joel and Victoria Osteen)