Recently I was joking around with my Hubby about how we haven’t watched a single minute of the NCAA Basketball Tournament (aka March Madness).
He replied “yea–March Madness describes our life for the past three weeks”
He was right.
The last month has been insane for our family. I feel like I’ve been in crisis mode all month long but…
…I’m thankful for hard times.
I know this is a strange thing to say. I’m not thankful for the bad things themselves, but I am thankful for what I’ve gained in going through them.
I didn’t always see things that way.
A good friend of mine had her first child a couple years ago. Weeks after the baby’s birth, her husband was diagnosed with cancer.
I’ll never forget her saying “God can do something good through this.”
I believe God can do miracles and I’ve seen them happen. But as I listened to my friend say this it just didn’t make any sense.
How can something good come out of watching your husband battle cancer as you are learning how to be a mom for the first time?
Now, years later it does make sense.
God CAN do good things through bad experiences.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” Romans 8:28
I’m happy to report that my friend and her husband are doing well. He is cancer free and they both continue to show amazing faith and thankfulness no matter what is going on. Seeing their faith through struggles helped me prepare for the struggles I recently faced.
I’m sure by now you’re wondering what made the month of March so crazy. Here’s the whole story:
ER Visit
If you follow me on Facebook, you may have heard this story. My daughter was at church, fell down and split the skin on her chin open. And when I say “open” I mean one-look-at-it-and-you-might-lose-your-lunch open. I knew right away she was going to need stitches.
For your sake I won’t show you those pictures. You’re welcome.
But I will show you this one. This is us moments before my daughter got her stitches. Look at her–smiling and having fun. I was completely blown away at how calm she was. I was trying to put up a calm front but inside all I wanted to do was cry for my daughter.
This was the first emergency situation involving one of my kids. It was so hard watching her get stitches. I wanted to take her place so badly.
Surprisingly, she was more brave than I was! In fact, as soon as her stitches were done, I passed out!
It was like as soon as I knew everything was okay, my body gave up.
What good came out of this?
- God used this situation to show me that my kids are braver and stronger than I give them credit for.
- God loves my kids even more than I do and because of that I don’t need to worry. They will have to face some hard situations but I don’t have to worry as long as I leave them in His hands.
Car Accident
The very next day, our family took a little trip a to the zoo which is a couple hours away from our home. We figured this trip would help our daughter get her mind off of the trauma she went through the day before.
We had a great time! The kids had fun in the car on the ride up (without any movies!) while the hubby and I discussed how thankful we were for my car and the good gas mileage it was getting.
After a fun trip to the zoo with friends and a quick trip to the Disney Store, we headed out to Trader Joes–one of my favorite places to go!
Then it happened.
Tires screeching. A big bang. Airbags going off. My kids screaming.
We were in a head-on collision.
This is the kind of thing I never wanted my kids to experience but now we were right in the middle of it.
I immediately looked around the car to see if everyone was okay. My Hubby was okay. The kids were shaken up and upset, but otherwise they seemed fine. No blood. Just little scratches. Thankfully, all 6 people involved in the car accident made it out with nothing more than a couple scratches.
But my car was totaled. The car my hubby and I were just thanking God for…is now gone.
One reason our family can afford to live off of one income is because our cars are paid off. Now that my car is gone, what are we going to do? I was so thankful everyone was okay but how are we going to afford a new car?
What good came out of this?
- A thankfulness I’ve never felt before. Realizing that in an instant I could have lost my family really gave me a deep thankfulness for my husband and children. I could have lost them. But I didn’t.
- Experiencing God’s amazing protection. If we would have been half a second ahead, the other car would have hit my daughter and I, not the front of the car. Then the situation would have been much worse. The fact that we were able to walk away from this scene practically unharmed shows that God was there protecting us.
- Realizing God prepared us for this ahead of time. Weeks before the accident, I took both my kids on a school field trip to the fire station. The kids got to meet fire fighters, see the big trucks and learn all about how fire fighters and police are there to help. This trip led to many discussions about how fire fighters and the police come to help those in need. My daughter was the first one to see the police arrive at the scene of the accident. She immediately shouted out excitedly “the police are here to help us!” Instead of being scared of all the noise, commotion and safety equipment, she was calm. God prepared her ahead of time.
- Watching God come through and provide what we thought we couldn’t get. I now have a new-to-us car that I love and here’s the best part– it’s already paid off! God provided for this through a good settlement with our insurance company and some awesome help from our parents.
Worst Fever Ever
A couple days after the accident my daughter had a really bad fever. The worst one she’s ever had. At one point it got up to 105.
As if she hasn’t had enough to deal with by now! At this point my heart was breaking for my little girl. She just went through 2 traumas 2 days in a row. She needs to recover! She needs some normal time to help process all these events. But that’s not what she got.
The 105 temperature only lasted a day but the fever just wouldn’t go away. Slowly after about 4 days the fever finally went away.
What good came out of this?
- Realizing that I am blessed that my kids are healthy most of the time. Some parents have very sick children and the burden that goes along with that is unimaginable. Again, I was amazed at the strength God gave my little girl to face all these trials.
Plumbing Problems
Apparently my family used 23,000 gallons of water in one month.
During the midst of our “March Madness”, we received the biggest water bill we’ve ever seen and discovered there was a break in the main pipe leading to our house.
Oh plumbing problems. How I hate you!
When we were shocked with the huge water bill, one of our good friends (who just happens to be the head honcho at the water department) offered to help us dig out our yard to find the leak.
The good news was they found the leak. The bad news was the leak was so bad we had to shut the water completely off.
For three whole days.
Have you ever gone without running water for more than a day? It’s not fun.
We hired a plumber to fix the leak. In order to fix the problem, the plumber needed more access to the pipe. The 6 foot deep hole in my front yard now had to be bigger. Usually they would hire an excavator to do the digging, but not us. In an effort to save money, my hubby did most of the digging to expose the pipe.
The hubby came home after teaching all day, then coaching at a track meet until almost 9PM to dig a 6 foot deep hole in our front yard and cut a hole in the basement to give access to the broken pipe.
The poor guy. He had a very long day!
What good came out of this?
- I have taken indoor plumbing for granted my whole life! I can’t tell you how excited I was to see running water again.
- God provides us with friends and family to help when we need it the most. I have some awesome friends who know how to serve and be a blessing to those they are around.
- Realizing I have an awesome Hubby. He has so many talents and abilities that have saved us so much money over the years. Usually if we have a problem with the house or cars, he can fix it. The only time we hire someone is for plumbing problems.
Thankfully I can say that things have finally calmed down for our family. I am out of crisis mode and things seem to be going back to normal.
One verse that helps me endure trials is this:
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” James 1:2-4
So–what struggles have you been going through lately? Have you gained something from going through hard times?
This post linked to: Saturday Sharefest, and Whatever Goes Wednesday.
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate your attitude. God is showing me how hard times help me see how much I’m not really trusting Him and how much I need Him.
I feel like I’m learning that so much lately! I really have nothing without Him!
Wow! What a month! So glad you’ve been able to find the good in all these situations.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve had similar months – ok, similar years! We raised 15 kids, most of who were special needs and brought with them such drama! We too learned to praise God through the pain. He is so good. It is nice to see others share our faith. I’ve thought a lot this week about your post, I originally read it a few days ago. Thanks again.
This right here is one reason I love blogging–it’s a great platform to share the stories of what God is doing! I can only imagine how hard it was raising those precious kids. I’m thankful they had someone like you to take care of them!
I am so sorry to hear of your many challenges. We had challenges this past year, during our new house build we had planned for many months, designed and re-designed by my husband who is an architect, and finally it got underway last March. Then in June my husband was diagnosed with cancer (esophageal), which meant many doctor visits with three doctors involved in his case, chemo, radiation, and surgery in October, with another round of chemo this past January. During this, the house was being built and it fell on me to manage it by visiting it everyday (luckily it was only 15 minutes away) and talking with the builder on any issues to resolve. The builder worked with us and did not hurry us when we needed to focus on his treatments or hospital time. We also had to move in November and I did all the packing in advance, schlepping boxes and furniture to storage, until the house was ready (he could not drive or lift a thing due to weakness from treatments and surgery), and then after moving in with the help of family who came in from out of town, unpacking, and clearing out the storage, We had a bad ice storm and lost power for a couple days after we moved in. We both got through everything by just focusing on what needed to be done “at that moment”, or that week. Anything beyond that, we didn’t focus on or stress about. The fantastic surgeon we had (luckily close by, and the best in this field, was only an hour away) removed the entire esophagus and all the cancer. The procedure is fascinating and an esophagus recreated by stretching the stomach up to replace it. He is cancer free and back to work and back to normal.
I understand totally how all of your challenges have made you focus on being thankful, and we did the same. You have to, or it is overwhelming. We also look at the point of view, “it could have been so much worse, and by some luck it wasn’t”. Through our many years of marriage (39) we have learned we can get through the challenges, and there is always someone else worse off. Best wishes to your family and continue to be thankful.
I am so glad to hear that your husband is now cancer free! That is so wonderful!! You are absolutely right–focusing just on what needs to be done in the moment can really help keep worries and stress at bay. I used to work in the medical coding field so hearing about how the surgeon did the surgery is so interesting!
This is my first time on your page (thank you SITS Girls!) and I am so glad I stopped by this morning. It’s incredible how so many difficult and really terrible things can happen to us, one after the other. And first, let me just say how glad I am that you and your family are alright. I think a lot of us can relate to that feeling of frustration that comes with a constant barrage of life’s downs. But I am so so happy to see that you’re taking the time to step back from each situation and find the good in it all. That is something so many of us neglect to do and I think it’s what’s missing for most of us. It can be too easy to get caught up in the negative and recycle feelings of hurt way after you’ve gone through the difficult times. The harder work lies in looking beyond that initial pain and allowing those moments to give you a different perspective on life and furthermore, to experience gratitude on a much more profound level. You’ve done that here and have taken the extra step to share that with all of us, so really, I have to thank YOU for inspiring us to do the same. I write a weekly gratitude journal that I’ve taken public on my blog. Each Thursday I like to write down something I’m thankful for, big or small. I’m always amazed at what I’m able to take away from that exercise. Keep doing what you’re doing. Wishing you a wonderful Easter and continued good health and happiness to you and your family!
Thank you so much Maribel! I love your idea of documenting something you’re thankful for every Thursday–I bet you’re inspiring others as well!
I’m so happy to hear that everyone is okay! Plumbing problems are awful! When my hubs and I lived in an apartment I kept telling the office that our water bill was way too high. It was $50 a month for two working people! It was insane. One day, I came home early from work and discovered a tower of shooting water right outside our apartment building. Apparently there had been a leak for months and the pipe finally burst. Not having running water definitely makes you thankful for it! Same with hot water. 🙂
That’s how our leak was too….the bills were higher for about a year while the leak was slow and then all of a sudden it burst! I’m glad for the both of us our plumbing problems are over!
Wishing you all the best and very happy Easter!
Oh Carrie, my heart breaks for you and your family. So thankful you all are alright. My eyes started to water as I read how amazing God is. I am so happy you could see that. It makes my heart fill with joy to see what amazing things he does and the amazing people he does it for. God Bless you and your family!!!
Mandy @ The Hankful House Blog
I’m so glad this encouraged you Mandy! Encouraging others is one of the biggest goals for this blog! Thanks so much for sharing your kind words!
Just hearing all of what you and your family have gone through made me feel sad. But then God reminded me He never gives us more than we can bear. Thank God everyone is safe. God bless you all!
Oh my! March was not a good month for you, but I love how your faith in God helped you get through it day by day. I have had two people rear end me in the last three weeks! Both were minor, but it has made me a little uneasy driving… just weird, too when I have been driving for over a decade and never was in an accident before. I am so glad your accident was injury free! I just can’t imagine how scary that must have been for you, especially with the kids in the car! I hope April will be a nice and calm month for you! God bless!
I know what you mean about being uneasy to drive. I was much more jumpy at the wheel after the accident. So far April has been very busy but calm compared to March!
Carrie –
So happy I found your little corner of the Web! Love all the verses you chose . . . very fitting. So sorry to hear about all of your “mishaps” but so glad you were able to find the positive and be thankful through it all. I have 3 daughters, 25, 22 and 12. My 22 year old split her forehead open when she was 3 and I remember feeling exactly what you felt. They had to wrap her up like a “burrito” so she couldn’t move, and although I knew it was for her own good, I had the hardest time with that. But like your daughter, she was so brave and at one point, asked ME why I was crying! LOL!
So glad everyone was ok after the car accident. That is so traumatic. And then the fever and the plumbing. . . sometimes when it rains, it pours! I like to remind myself that God has promised to give us only as much as we can handle, but sometimes I think He gives me more credit than I deserve! The Romans 8:23 verse is one of my all time favorites.
It sounds like you are very blessed with a beautiful family. So happy for you. Look forward to hearing more about you and your ventures and projects. Hope this week goes much smoother . . .
Hugs-
jean
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Jean! This week has been very busy but much better! It seems like most mothers I talk to have had either a chin or forehead stitch situation with one of their kids and it’s hard on everyone! I bet that was so hard to watch your daughter be wrapped up like a burrito! What a funny comment she had for you–looks like you got a laugh just when you needed it!