I wrote this post almost a year ago. It’s amazing to see how the message is still ringing true.

I posted this video on Instagram right after mother’s day of a hummingbird that was drinking from my fuchsia hanging-pots in my back yard in Oregon. A sweet friend that owns one of the local wineries (Reustle’s….you need to check them out) commented about how she loved humming birds.  She also mentioned that God used hummingbirds to let her know “I got this!” when she was feeling overwhelmed in life. 

My daughter had a swollen red spot on her leg for a few days that kept getting bigger. We thought it was a bug bite at first. As it got bigger and was causing pain, I decided we needed to take her to our naturopath to see what was going on. He told me he believed my daughter had MRSA.  He was also highly concerned about a swollen lymph node in her neck.  He kept checking it, checked her glands in her arm pits and asked about her pelvic area.  Dread settled in my stomach.  Then he told me that when she finished the heavy dose of antibiotics for the MRSA, if the gland had not gone down, he wanted an ultrasound. 

I knew exactly where his mind was going.  I kept my Mommy-game face on.  No way I am melting down in front of this 10 year old girl, who is already upset that she has to miss the rest of the school week (and possibly the last few weeks of school).  To give you an idea of how bad her leg was, she couldn’t even walk on it because it hurt so bad.  *See photos below*

How it started

I went home relayed all the info to my husband (and the grandma’s, because if something is wrong with their grandbabies, you better keep them apprised…or else). All the while keeping it together, because I didn’t want them to be worried, when this could be nothing. To make matters worse, we had to go on another high-dose antibiotic, in tandem with the first, because it started spreading to her other leg! I was so overwhelmed with the what-if’s that kept flooding my mind.  Then to top it all off, here I had just came from a fabulous ladies conference (Flourish) and I am losing my junk in worry, not even a week later.  Geesh…some kind of believer I am! 

Then one of my sweet friends asked me if I wanted to go wine tasting at Reustle’s and pick up our wine club order.  (I miss you like crazy, Kathy, and those friend-dates!) As we were finishing up our tasting, Gloria, one of the owners, comes running out of the office.  “Amanda!  There is a hummingbird trapped in the office and it can’t get out!” 

Come to find out it kept running into the window trying to get out and it had exhausted itself and was resting on the window sill, when we walked into the office.  These windows didn’t have the ability to open.  So, I moved a couple items out of the way on the window sill and it stirred up again trying to get out.  I just prayed silently, “Lord, let it calm down again, so I can catch it.”  Within seconds, it came to rest again on the sill.  I quickly and softly cupped it into my hands.  The poor thing didn’t even struggle.  I walked outside and opened my hands and off it went.

I was soooo shocked and thrilled at the whole experience.  Here is this busy little bird that only stops for small moments of time and is always buzzing around and I just held it in my hands!! WHAT THE WHAT?!!!  I told Kathy and Gloria that it had to be a God moment.  The more I thought about it that day, the more I realized how much it was true.  You see my daughter wasn’t the only concern/choice/issue I was dealing with at the time. I was so over-burdened and overwhelmed.  And it was like God used Gloria’s post on my Instagram video and that moment to remind me “I GOT THIS!  Quit stressing and worrying!”

You see…God healed my daughter completely. There was no gaping wounds. The swelling subsided. She was able to attend her last week of school. Nothing came of the swollen lymph nodes. All those other issues, most of them resolved and are fine now. The rest of them…God is helping me to find peace.

How many times are we like that little bird?  We see what looks like a clear path and we keep running into a wall (or window lol). We exhaust ourselves with worry and effort, because the path is so clear…“Why aren’t things working out the way I want?”  All the while, God is right there with his arms outstretched, holding out His hands.  He is moving things out of our way, trying to clear the path to Him.  Then we struggle and try to do it our way again.  Finally at the end of ourselves, we are exhausted and we just collapse.  Then there He is to scoop us up and carry us. Then, in what seems like a moment, He sets us free to fly.  All we have to do is BE STILL!