The Nestea Plunge

I was driving down the highway this week with my yuppie air conditioning blowing in my hair, music pumping (I'm from Durham. Get it girl). “International Love” comes in the radio and let me tell you Zumba is a dangerous sport. (Sport yes. Because the amount of sweat it produces is uh-mazing. Sport level amazing. Sorry Crossfit to lump you with Zumba. That's a no no I know. But seriously Zumba is for real.) All of a sudden you know what happens. I start all the moves I know. "I don't play baseball but I hit a home run!" Arms this way and that. Oh oh oh oh. International love. Uh huh. Risking my life driving while dancing for the awesome beat.  Rocking it by myself. 

Why the outburst of happiness, you ask?  Well I've had this issue and I am finally honing in on what the problem might be. I was on my way sola to get a blood test (woo!) and an X-ray (double woo!). And my lovely parents came to watch my children. On their anniversary. I was feeling loved and taken are of.  Grateful. When his happens, I can't hold back.

Well almost taken care of.  You see I have this neighbor. She was just a neighbor. Until I found out she was a radiological technician. At the place near us. And the last three years have had lots of testing. So, before my first ever test she was there. I called her. I said, "I'm coming to see you today. Are you working?"  And guess what?  I didn't even have to ask her to hold my hand. She came anyway. But today she's out of town and no one knows me here. (I'm in the waiting room right now with geriatric patients bless their hearts, smiling at me trying to make conversation.  Where are my ear buds that make me have invisible powers?)

So when I needed my CT scan, she wasn't able to be in there but she told all her friends I was coming. I felt at ease. With my clothes off on the table and cold as an iceberg. Uncertainty looming as to what he heck God was having me face next. Chatting it up with her working buddy. She already knew me cause my friend had told her about me.

So then I had this test that stirrups should have been involved with, but delightfully not provided. I had to hold my legs in the air. Inner thigh workout I could never have duplicated. (Safe to say I do not have exotic pole dancing in my future.)  Well this friend, she knew how bad the test was. She used her lunch break to come with me. Even brought me a power bar so I didn’t get sick. This was the point where my neighbor became my friend. Good friend. Where she held my leg while the doctor did his thing clamping my girl part (rhymes with gervix) and reclamping it cause it fell off, apologizing for that, and my leg just a shaking. (I am sorry if you are tightly crossing your legs by now...)

I told everyone then and there not to be deceived. That I crossfitted quite often and was a powerhouse. But that someone must have carried kryptonite or some kinda nonsense in to the test to make me have the shakes. I also told everyone that I am sure they were delightful people in real life, but I wasn't sure if I'd really choose to hang with them this way. Legs wide open with my doctor at the end.  Everyone laughed but you know they were glad it wasn’t them. Friends you gotta laugh at these things...

So after my blood test I went to my Dirty D (affectionate name for my hometown.  People here aren’t so much “dirty”) gas station eating my Oreos in line cause y'all I was lightheaded. Telling the cashier I wasn't stealing them. Pointing to my bandage saying that I had blood drawn. (Like a kid with a war story skinned knee. He wasn't impressed. I also saw my fist pair of apple bottom jeans in line in front of me. No boots with fur though. Then I decided I wanted some. Hubs- Christmas idea)

You see, medical things, you need a sidekick. Well, life's a battle. You need one for life. Someone to laugh with. Someone to hold your hand. You need a friend. And we'll, sometimes I act a little like a high maintenance kid with these things, my friends and family understand and help me out. (Nurse just tell me before you sick me, k? Ok sweetie. Take a deep breath and think of sale shopping. You see? That's what I need).

And I worry sometimes about the future. What in the world will this world look like for our kids? What if/when "fill in the blank" happens. But my Friend, he's gone before me and is there already, waiting for me, waiting to usher us to the next place that's best for us.An he's told me that difficult things are going to happen. But he goes before me. He is sovereign. He is in control. He provides me with what I need when I need it. Sometimes it may seem like the last hour, but he's got me.

Like that fabulous 80's Nestea commercial, where the equally fabulous man in his tight jeans, loudly colored shirt, and fluffy hair falls back with a smile on his face into the water. And you're left wanting tea and a poolside excursion.

I'm falling back into his sea of grace. And you'd think I was frantically grasping to something around me to keep me from getting immersed. But that's not how Jesus works. I want to fall back. He and I, we're a team. He guides, I follow. And He makes sure to throw a laugh in there every now and then. Cause He knows I love to laugh. He's got me. Step by step. With him. Forever.