Abide

Abide

I think as the new school year begins this is the word that is on my heart.

a·bide

   

[uh-bahyd] Show IPA verb, a·bode or a·bid·ed, a·bid·ing.

–verb (used without object)

1.

to remain; continue; stay: Abide with me.

2.

to have one's abode; dwell; reside: to abide in a smallScottish village.

3.

to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship,etc.; last.

My favorite of these definitions is the first...to remain..to continue...to stay...abide with me. My precious four little ones are going off to school. Noah 2nd grade...Bella 1st grade...Emma Lynn kindergarten...and Judah will go three days a week to pre-k!!!! This is kind of hard on a momma who has had a child next to her leg for eight years...eight years. For the past two years some went to school but I rotated the days of the youngest so they each had one-on-one time with me. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited to have three whole days all to myself...wow...but the reality is starting to sink in. Eight years has gone by too fast.

And then I hear the words...Abide with me.

I am reminding myself that maybe the Lord has carved out these days for me to remain near him...to stay close...maybe it is a gift of time to reside and return to my first love....my Maker.

(I typed those words last Wednesday night. I would need them by Thursday.)

On Thursday, Noah woke up and his eye was swollen. I thought probably allergies but decided to take him into the doctor just in case. I am so thankful I did. The doctor explained that he actually had an infection in his eye and that we really had to watch it. When infections are in the eye they can spread behind the eye and then to the brain quickly. I watched him like a mother hen all day. By the time evening rolled around, his eye was completely swollen shut...it looked like someone had punched him hard. I sent a picture to my dear dear cousin who is a pediatrician and his response was to take him to the ER...IMMEDIATELY. Ryan and I sat most of the night with him while he received an antibiotic IV. There aren't words to describe sitting by your son in the hospital...holding his hand...stroking his face...telling him everything will be okay...while at the same time you are crying out to God for everything to be okay. As we sat...my big football playing eight year old son just wept. He wept because he was scared...he wept from the pain...he wept because he is old enough to understand. He is the one out of my four who doesn't really like for mom to rock him...or hold him...or kiss his face all over anymore. Yet, Thursday night he was just clinging to me while I just kept embracing him...fear was written all over his face.

Abide...Lindsey...abide...abide with me.

The IV stopped the infection before it reached his brain...no loss of sight...no meningitis. By Saturday night his eye looked almost normal. On Sunday morning his eye looked completely normal. Thank you, thank you, thank you Lord. Sunday night he told me his leg hurt a little and he showed me the spot that hurt. It was just a normal looking bug bite so I put some cream on it and didn't think another thing about it. The next morning his bite was swollen to the size of the palm of my hand...back to the doctor. By evening it was twice as big with streaks running up his leg. Today, Tuesday, we left the doctor yet again. It seems his leg and his eye have no connection. It appears and we are still walking through this...that he has gotten bit by a brown recluse spider. The streaks appear to be the venom and not another infection.

Abide...Lindsey...abide...abide with me.

Please pray for Noah. Pray that whether this is a bite or an infection that it would be made crystal clear to the doctors. And pray that the medication will work quickly.

O Lord, help me to dwell with you...help me to remain and stay with you...regardless of the circumstances. Help me to abide.