My time on Sabbatical was amazing. While in my last post, I spoke about the first week of my time off and not being able to “disconnect” as quickly as I thought I could, once the second week got started, I was off and running. My phone died and while my blogging suffered, I didn’t really miss my phone. That is a shock for many of you but for me, it was refreshing. I can function without it – wow! I finally got a new one (back to the IPhone). So I am catching up my blog from my journal. Lets just say I will not be going back to old habits on my phone, I liked not being attached to it as much! I was resting and spending some quality time reading both in Gods word, my book (s) and my bible study (without feeling guilty about the time I has set aside for these readings instead of doing something for work or around the house) and my heart and head was buzzing. I felt like someone had turned up the lights that I did not realize had been dimmed. It is hard to explain but I became really excited and wanted to share what I was studying and how it was affecting me. My pastor and I had some really exciting study summaries as a result of a few particular exciting passages over the next several weeks.
I went to work with three of the ladies from my church who needed different things done and did not have kids living close to help. All three of these ladies attend my church and all three sit directly behind Eddie and I (you know….”our seats” in “our row” at church). They give our grand kids mints, gum and “get on to us” if we “get on” to them. They lost their husbands at different times over the past few years and have formed a bond through these losses). For two of them, I cleaned out some clothes and items from one where her husband has passed away. For one, she did not have “the heart or “want to” to get it done yet” and now was the time. Her children had offered to help after they gone through the items they wanted and take care of the rest of it but Mrs. Burny was not ready to have them gone yet. She told our pastor, now was the time. I helped her (yes we cried together a few times – you know me) but it was good! The second lady was more business like (that was new for me) and void of steady emotion but she felt her loss in a very different way. Her emotion came out all at once then she would tuck it back in and here we would go methodically going through things and allocating their distribution. When it was over, relief and smiling… and then she made a list of other items we could do later haha. (and we will) I relied on a lot of things I learned from Dr. Wolfelt about how people process death differently and sometimes its not an outward “visible” sign of emotion. With both of the ladies there was an underlying factor that was overtaking them both, with their kids living so far off, it was loneliness. I hope to help with that!
The third lady I helped and will continue to help, take her shopping for groceries and just be around for her is Reva. She is so much like my granny was in her independence, sense of humor and spirit. We bonded almost instantly and decided ours was an encounter that would be turning into a friendship. We would be there for each other. Eddie (my husband) is helping me with the task at Reva’s – we are replacing her carport roof. She thought she would just climb up there with us but we quickly let her know that was not going to happen (at her age of 80)! She relented and just let us do the climbing. ha. She uses the tree “pole saw” on small branches and want to be useful. She said “I’m old but not useless” and “I need to be active”. She is afraid of being idle and losing what abilities she can still do while realizing there are some things she should not do, even if she believes she can for fear of hurting herself. Eddie and I have decided to “adopt” her! We let Reva know this and she was so moved we all ended up with happy tears in our eyes!
For all of these task, God spoke to my heart in different ways, with messages relating to my devotionals and feeding my spirit in servitude – my calling. God is so good and merciful as He administers to our soul, our spirit and gives us a hunger to dive deeper in His work as it is meant for our lives. I am still serving these ladies and became an “honorary member of our church study group “women at the well” (average age of 70). I love it and am honored!
I will post again about the remaining time on Sabbatical from my journal about the books I have read and my bible study. Praying for you all and your Sabbatical.
Anissa