Or Suppose…

Travel Anxiety, do y’all struggle with it?

Yesterday I was in the thick of vacation planning. We have some big plans over the summer and I was making reservations, printing off confirmations, searching the internet for things to do and basically making myself nuts. Terms like “non-refundable” and “Cancelation Fee’s” were rolling before my eyes.

I felt the anxiety well up with in me almost to the point of tear as I watched my list of available hotels getting smaller and smaller. I had visions of us sleeping on the side of the road in our rental car, with nothing but the contents of our back seat cooler to sustain us for the foreseeable future.

The endless list of things to do are wandering in and out of my brain, get the car adapter for the laptop, make sure we have enough batteries, do I have enough sunscreen in those small 3 ounce bottle to pass the airport security?

Then in the midst of finalizing one last reservation the DD walks into the kitchen and looks at me and my husband and says “Buster’s in the yard next door!” with this look on her face like aren't y’all going to do something about this! She had apparently not gotten the back gate properly closed and he decided to have a little afternoon stroll!

The hubs makes a quick response “Well don’t just stand there, go get him!”

We spent the next 35 minutes driving around the neighborhood with leash in hand as well as all the favorite squeaky toys and a handful of provolone cheese as enticement. I took off in one car the hubs took of in the other direction in his car and we drove around, and around. After combing the entire neighborhood twice we we made one last pass on the street just past ours. 

I passed the Hubs as I was about to round the next corner and we exchanged a brief conversation “Have you been back to the house?”

“No!” So he headed in that direction, we exchanged glances and were preparing ourselves for the worst.

He drove up our street and several minutes later as the tear faced DD and I were standing at the bottom of a hill bellowing into the woods I get a call on my cell phone.

Our sweet little escapee had safely retuned home. THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!

I took the opportunity to lecture my DD on the benefits of obedience training ASAP. Never underestimate the value of “COME” which our sweet little Buster has yet to master!

All in all it was a high stress day for me, not to mention that the hubs is nursing a nasty cold and I have now been scouring the house with my Lysol disinfectant wipes to ensure that the germs stop with him.

Last night as I put the finishing touches on all our vacation plans I had a tentative sense of peace knowing that we will not have to sleep in our car. I take comfort in my need for multiple, numerous, endless, copious, well you get the picture lists and my day by day hour by hour itinerary that I have printed off from my Outlook Calendar. Yes, a bit on the obsessive side but it is what it is! It makes me feel better knowing what the plan is. However all the different variable that will occur over the course of this pending trip are still banging around in my thoughts.

This morning, God with His perfect way of communicating exactly what He wants to say exactly when He wants to say it at precisely the right moment was evident.

This morning in my Streams in the Desert I read the devotional for the day. It was about two Christian women, one was joyful and the other was “quite sullen’” as the devotional described her. She posed a question:

“Suppose, for instance, you experience a time of illness and are unable to work. Or suppose your present employers move away, and you cannot find work elsewhere. Or suppose…”

The woman cries “STOP"! I never suppose. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. And besides,” she added to her gloomy friend “it’s all that supposing that’s making you so miserable….”

Well yesterday I was supposing myself in to a tizzy.

The last quote of the devotional states: “The eagle that soars at great altitudes does not worry about how it will cross a river.”

The scripture for the day was Psalm 37, one of my got to psalms!

  PS 37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

  PS 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

  PS 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD;
    trust in him and he will do this:

Streams in the Desert, June 9 (selected)

“Tomorrows bridge is a dangerous thing;

I dare not cross it now.

I can see it’s timbers sway and swing,

O heart, you must sing and trust and say:

“I’ll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow,

But I’ll borrow none today.”

Message received Lord, LOUD AND CLEAR!

My travel anxiety reared it’s ugly head yesterday! Making plans is a necessary thing, allowing the process, or the “Suppose…” to become a source of anxiety….well let’s just say that for me it will be a continuous struggle to not borrow any from tomorrow and to remember to look for the blessing of each day!

As I have been sitting here composing this post the sun is shinning, the breeze is making the Canna Lilies gently sway back and forth like a slow rolling red sea of blossoms, I have enjoyed the company of several visits from my neighborhood hummingbirds and the dog has remained safely in the back yard!

Blessings

R