One Of Life's Lessons

Cough, cough...sniff....hack, hack!!  Does that sound familiar in your house?  It sure does in ours!  Our family was hit last week with the nasty virus going around Meridian and it was rough!  So in the middle of the night when sleep is calling sweetly,  I was up walking the hallways trying to find who was having a rough night.  Did I mind?  Not at all!  In fact, I was elated!!  Why, you ask, would I be so overjoyed at the interruption to my sweet sleep?  Because for the first time in a month and a half, I was able to actually get up and go help rather than asking my husband for help. Let me explain.

It was the middle of January that I finally went to the doctor for a pain that kept flaring up on my left side....a pain that eventually led to me spending most of my days in bed and wondering what was wrong.  I went through every test they gave.....sonograms, x-rays, CAT scan, MRI, steroid shot, and the list goes on.  Schooling my children and tending to my two young ones became a day to day struggle and we eventually had to have someone stay with me at all times to help.  My wonderful husband had to work his job and do mine as well as he could....with very little sleep much of the time.  We wondered why in the world this was happening and took turns spouting frustrations and praying fervently for God to intervene.  One day when I was in prayer, a verse came to me:  "....always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20).  ALWAYS.  ALWAYS?  After choking back the retort, I looked inward and thought of ways to be thankful......and then repented.  I had sooo many things to be thankful for!!  God has blessed me with a wonderful, Godly husband, four healthy inspiring children, terrific parents, and the list went on and on.  A few days later, I began to be able to stay up and walk around more and have been doing better every day even though I still have to rest.  The chiropractor I am going to has been the most help and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So, that brings me back to walking the halls and finding my sweet 7 year old sitting up coughing.  I was able to walk downstairs with her and fix her some warm tea and honey to sip on that calmed her throat and tuck her back in bed.  Never was a mother more triumphant feeling than being able to get back in the bed with my husband still calmly sleeping!  I will never again take for granted being able to do the simple things I do every day that mean so much to my family.  For weeks, I had to lay in bed and watch everyone else do the things that I had previously grumbled about having to do.....what longing I had to simply wash my family's clothes!! lol!  So before you complain about having to cook that dinner or scrub that shower, take a hint from someone who is learning to be grateful in ALL things........you might look back at being able to do those things with fondness one day!