Courage to Trust God in the Desert

By Katherine Newsom

God's Brave Women - Katherine's Story

“Uh oh mama,” my almost two-year-old says as he pokes the leads that are taped on my chest from a 24-hour halter monitor I’m wearing. He then proceeds to play with the cords that fall between the leads to the monitor. It’s much more compact than it used to be a decade ago. I know this routine, and it isn’t anything new. But it’s still inconvenient.

Couple that with throwing up throughout the night before, getting a sporadic thirty minutes of sleep, and then going into the long-awaited appointment, and I’m drained. I can’t do it alone, and I’m grateful to have help from family so I can go to the appointment by myself. The understanding staff give me warm blankets to nap after setting up the monitor. I didn’t feel comfortable driving in my weak state, so I rested for an hour before driving home and picking up a treat for myself on the way back. I was feeling better finally. Naps change everything.

I’ve had 27 years of cardiology appointments behind me, so I should know how it goes by now. But it’s easy to forget and doubt. Truth be told, sometimes we are forgetful creatures. Whether we’ve walked through something similar in the past or we just learned new lessons, days go by and we don’t remember God’s faithfulness. Like the Israelites wandering through the wilderness, we forget the manna God has sent us in the desert – how He sustains us in low times. We doubt what actually happened, what we really learned and how it changes things today.

"The low points of our lives often threaten to drown out the goodness of God, His manna that is always there for the taking. But God’s hand is present in our circumstances – where we’ve been, how He’s delivered us, and where we are going."

The low points of our lives often threaten to drown out the goodness of God, His manna that is always there for the taking. But God’s hand is present in our circumstances – where we’ve been, how He’s delivered us, and where we are going. My halter monitor was a way to monitor if things are still going as they should. They hadn’t in the past, yet by God’s grace, the issue was found and I was fixed. (And right now, no new news is good news!) Today I choose to trust in God’s sovereignty over my health. I do not fear and stress over something that is out of my control, which in turn, causes more issues. It’s just part of my life because of the fallen world we live in. But walking through these trying times with grace makes me brave. And the same goes for you.