Are You An Indian Giver?

Oh my, it has been such a long time since I posted anything on this blog! I'm surprised anyone has stopped by, but my weekly report indicates I still have folks checking in. Thank you for your patience!


These past couple of months have been stressful. Let me tell you about them by starting with a quick story. A friend and I went out to dinner a couple of months ago. During the course of conversation, she asked "are you an Indian giver?" What had precipitated that question? Had I given my friend something, then perhaps borrowed it back and never returned it?


That's not what she was talking about at all. As she listened to my anxiety about my husband's upcoming open heart surgery, she asked if I had given my concerns to God. Well, yes, of course, I had prayed for a successful surgery and a rapid recovery for my husband. Yet, here I was, going on about all that could go wrong.


How often do we take the advice in Philippians 4:6, turning our anxieties over to God in prayer with thanksgiving. Yet, a mere few hours later, we snatch them back from his "questionable" embrace and clutch them close in our "capable" arms. After all, don't we feel a bit guilty if we don't worry about our loved ones' trials? Do we appear callous or even naive if we sit back and say, "Oh, God will take care of it?"


As my husband anticipated his quadruple bypass, he drove me crazy with his lack of manifestation of anxiety. When I finally asked him about it, his reply was so simple, yet so true. "I could have a stroke and never get out of bed again. I could die, but worrying about it won't change the outcome. It's all in The Lord's hands."


Truer words were never spoken. My husband did have his surgery, and the day before the procedure, the surgeon told me, "You need to know that his risk for stroke or even death during this procedure is extremely high." Yet, my husband's own words, "it's in the Lord's hands," carried me though those tension-filled hours.


My husband is home now and doing well with his recovery. He is still at risk for the complications that come with heart disease, but like he says, "why worry about it?"


Slowly but surely, I'm learning not to be an Indian giver!


Thanks for reading my blog!