Hide and Watch

By Jill Hicks Lawson

Have you noticed that it is easy to speak of Gods faithfulness in times of prosperity, but that in times of suffering, such praise becomes lost? In Hide and Watch, a true story of sorrow and distress, of hope and triumph, Jill Hicks Lawson shares how she was spiritually transformed by overcoming her doubt in God during times of struggle. From enduring her battle with weight, her mothers kidney disease; to experiencing debilitating infertility and painful divorce; and eventually to becoming her mothers only hope for life, Lawsons personal accounts speak to the universal human experience of suffering, both physical and emotional, providing firsthand proof that, regardless of circumstance, God is in the business of giving hope. By recounting moments of pain and progress, Lawson demonstrates that anguish is the only pathway to experiencing the dramatic joy and peace that result from Gods intervention and healing, assuring those amidst the battle that, in the end, what does not kill your faith makes it stronger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512702453

Jill Hicks Lawson

Soon after graduating from Morehead State University in Kentucky, Jill Hicks Lawson learned that her mother was diagnosed with kidney disease, prompting her to change her career plans and assume her mother’s duties in the family business. Later, Lawson became a live donor for her mother’s kidney transplant, a harrowing experience that led her to find peace and direction through the love of Jesus Christ.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 Jill Hicks Lawson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0244-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0245-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015920354

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/17/2015

The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O LORD, endures forever—Do not abandon the works of Your hands.

Psalm 138:8 (NIV)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother,

Mary Ann Smith Hicks.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank those who supported me in this endeavor, my family and friends, and those very special people that God placed in my life exactly when I needed them the most.

I want to say a very special thank you to my wonderful husband Steven Lawson, who without his love, support and faith, this book would not have become a reality. You are truly my blessing from God.

Finally, these words may come in my voice, but God must absolutely receive the honor and the glory in this story. He provided the words; I only serve as the instrument.

Table of Contents

Prologue

1 The Early Years

2 Life Changes Fast

3 Reality Comes Home

4 With Eyes Wide Open

5 Unexpected Turn

6 Letting Go

7 God Speaks

8 A New Life

9 She Remembers Me

Epilogue

Safely Home

Prologue

On August 22nd, 2001, at around twelve o’clock noon, I awoke with eyes wide open in the recovery room, and strained to look for a clock to note the time. I found myself alone there, and my first thought was how my mother was. The fact that no one was there when I woke up was my first clue that something had not gone well with her part of our kidney transplant surgery, and I immediately felt a heavy feeling in my chest…

No, God, please, don’t let this happen to us now…

ONE

The Early Years

MY PARENTS WERE, FOR LACK OF a better term, the consummate All-American couple.

Growing up in small town Monticello, KY, a rural community situated close to the Kentucky-Tennessee border, Marvin Hicks and Mary Ann Smith began their courtship very early as seventh grade classmates and never departed from that early commitment to each other. Their tight bond extended into middle school and into high school, where it has been said by many of their friends that when you saw one, you saw the other.

They were simply totally devoted to each other. When my father made the varsity basketball team, my mother accompanied him to every game as a varsity cheerleader.

After my parents graduated, my father found a job working at a local flower shop and nursery, where he learned the craft of landscaping and floral horticulture. He had worked previously as an usher at the local theatre, so to find a job like this in mid-1950 rural Kentucky was something to be proud of. My mother’s part-time jobs ranged from working for an optometrist, working the counter at a local drugstore and in sales at a downtown five and dime store. Despite the economic difficulties of the times, my parents were not afraid of hard work and sacrifice to make ends meet.

My parents were both Christians. My mother and her best friend Martha Ann Carter were saved at a very young age on a Sunday evening at a church that neither one attended. Neither had a parent with them that evening, but when the altar call came from the minister, my mother asked her best friend if she wanted to go down to the front of the church.

I will, if you will answered Martha, and my mother took that very important step out into the aisle with her best friend in tow.

My father’s acceptance of Jesus Christ came a little later, as a young man in the mid 1950’s. I can only believe that it was my mother’s encouragement, or perhaps insistence, that he take this step and join her united in Christ, before they became united as a couple. They married soon after