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WHAT IF?

            Have you ever wondered what your life would be but for the one event, the one decision, the one blessing, that changed everything?

            Today, June 1st, I contemplate in awe and gratitude that twelve years ago (12!), after five months in the ICU at University of Pennsylvania and one month at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, Ben—improbably and darn near impossibly—took his house key from my hand and walked back into his life.

            For the past six months, he had been given no choices. He could make no decisions about any part of his precarious, critically-ill, hanging-on-by-a-thread life. Then, because of the grace and mercy of a loving and sovereign God, he was miraculously healed, and walked back into his life.

            As I sat here this morning thinking about that surreal day, the day none of us dared hope for, I began to ask the question—What if?

            What if Ben never came home?

            Thinking about the ramifications of that one moment of our lives ending differently staggers me!

            What if our six-week-old new love before Ben got sick would have died with him? There would have been no picking up just-where-we-left-off but better; no sweet wedding; no living out our days in retirement.

            What if our precious grandbabies had been born into a world where their beloved Popster didn’t exist? There would have been no snuggles, no “whippins’,” no hammering nails into wood, no collecting tree bark from the sycamores, no memories to pass on to their own children. The thought of that “what if” loss makes me unimaginably sad.

            From whom would the neighbor’s children learn to hang pictures and measure wood? Who would friend Joanne have called when she spotted a snake in her laundry room?

            What other endlessly patient and extremely kind man would my elderly mother call when she needed a ride, a helping hand, or just reassurance and a sympathetic ear?

            What if there would be no Laverne the Ferne, no joyful daily walks along the Schuylkill River and Perkiomen Creek and the soft, misty hills of Valley Forge soaking in God’s incredible creation; no First Wednesdays with Joanne and friends, no Monday morning breakfasts with Cherri. No third Wednesday Diva Days. No Bible studies at my home.

            What if I had to be someone different? Everything I am—author, speaker, Bible teacher—are all rooted in and spiraled outward from that one life event. A mere six months out of sixty-three years, yet those six months set the course of the rest of my life.

            Before those momentous six months, my life pretty much followed the course of the choices I had made. But now I know that I know that I know that my life was always set on a collision course with those six months and that hospital room. Always headed for the story that would change all my “everythings and everybodies.”

            It was always God’s plan.

            Thank You, Father, for twelve years that were never promised. Thank You, Father, for Your unending mercy and Your overwhelming love. Thank You for our life together today, just as it is. Just as You always meant it to be.

                                                            Blessings,

                                                            Lori

Question: What event, circumstance, or moment has set you on a new path in life?