Helpless?

I misplaced my cell phone recently. I have to tell you I was very close to panicking.
I know that makes no sense to most people, but my phone is my main means of communicating with others. My hearing aids are controlled by my phone, and I hear calls through my hearing aids. The house phone might as well be a planter because I cannot, even with the speaker on, understand what anyone is saying on that phone.
Also, I text a lot. Friends recognize my hearing is so poor that I cannot follow conversations well over the phone, so I am in contact often by text with those I love and those I pray for and with.
I knew I had the phone in my hand at one point and then, as often occurs, I stopped to complete another task and it was gone. I searched in every drawer in the kitchen. I stopped the washer to see if I had accidently tossed it in with the clothes. I then started looking upstairs, and then back down again. Our house is small, and there are not a lot of places to search.
I intentionally have a red cover on my phone, so I can spot it easily since it is so important.   
Gone? How far could it have gone in an 800-square-foot house?
I called my number with my husband Neil’s cell, but I could only hear the phone ringing in my hearing aids. I could not hear it if I removed them. Finally, Neil came back in the house and searched with me.
Since his hearing is fine, we tried again to dial my phone. He could hear it faintly somewhere but could not pin down the location before the call went to voicemail. We tried a second and third time, and finally Neil located the phone on top of the refrigerator in a chicken-shaped basket where I keep my permanent markers. Really?
What a relief. Yes, I had pulled down the chicken to find and use a marker for some donations we were gathering. Since the donations were already out of sight, that action went out of my mind, too, and I could not have guessed that I would have placed the phone in that basket while replacing the marker.
This story is told to explain how dependent I am now. I have always been very independent and able to function well on my own, but this hearing loss has knocked me for a loop.
I am very dependent upon Neil and all his working senses. I depend on God for everything in my life and, thankfully, He has provided Neil’s insight resulting from many years of marriage to help me track down my phone (among other things) without either laughing or making fun when I am in near panic mode. He might laugh after I calm down, but by then, so can I.
Daily I find I am more and more dependent on God’s provisions.
I am thankful every morning that I can get up and take care of myself. I think often of our friend who is a paraplegic, and my heart and prayers go out for patience and all that goes along with being helpless to do things for yourself that were once quite simple. 
I find God’s words to Paul – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” – to now mean so much more.
Daily, as I become more dependent on God, I find He can work through me without me getting in the way so much.
And, as I become more dependent on Neil, I am finding a new appreciation for his seemingly endless patience.
Interesting, isn’t it? When I was a teen, I could hardly wait to become an adult who could go where I wanted when I wanted. I could buy what I wanted, too. Well, I soon realized none of that was the case because I had to work for a living.
I found out quite quickly that my salary was dictating my lack of adventures – not parental rules. I just got moved from one reality to the next one.
Now, here I am years later, finding yet another new reality – I am again very dependent, but now the rules of the house come from God and, thankfully, He watches over me every moment to keep me safely within His care.
So now I can completely agree with Paul and understand his total dependence on God and God’s provisions. God has blessed me mightily with provisions aplenty. I could ask for nothing more and accept that if He did not heal Paul’s thorn in the flesh, He might also leave me without hearing for the very same reason.
He is my God and I trust Him to do what is best for me always. I am not helpless when I am in the care of my Father, as He is my help in times of trouble and the lifter of my head. Hallelujah and amen. 
ED. NOTE: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.