Hey! I’m back! What a great break I have had – not exactly what I had planned it to be, but definitely eye-opening.
I timed the break to go along with a visit we had planned to our friends down in Evansville, Indiana. It is a 12 hour drive from our house, plus stops, which are inevitable with little ones in the vehicle. Our kids were AMAZING – we only stopped TWICE on the way down! After all our Florida trips, we have it down to a fine art – MINIMUM 3 hours per leg, then EVERYONE gets out to pee, run around, and we gas up and go again. It seems to work really well! Thanks to lots of story CDs, some activity cards and books, and a DVD, the kids did fantastic.
Unfortunately for me, about halfway down, I came down with the flu. I thought I’d already had it when my hubby and JJ had it, but I guess I only partially cheated it. I was left with a cough, which weakened me, and wham, got hit with the flu. And, as if that wasn’t enough, The Boy and I BOTH got bronchitis right after. And we’re still coughing up a lung.
I was not able to spend as much time “soul-searching” as I would have, about what I’m to be doing here. I did, however, get to spend some great time with my family, without the distraction of the computer constantly calling my name. THAT was nice!
On top of that, I received a couple of really great on-going writing opportunities, which I am still sort of surprised I was even considered for! Exciting times ahead :0)
During this whole time of being sick, God has been really gracious to me. First of all, The Boy has been an amazing trooper. With all the coughing he’s been doing, and the discomfort he must be in, I hear barely a peep from him. With me being as tired as I am, kept up all night coughing, you’d think my temper and patience would be shorter – but He has given me grace to weather the storm.
I am even able to be thankful! I have been thinking lately how good God has been to us, how he has blessed us, taken care of us, protected us (we had 12 hours of driving rain on our trip back home! My poor hubby :/).
Not much has gotten to us. For which I am extremely grateful. But I realized that this sickness is a storm, albeit perhaps small. And maybe all the test I am able to take right now.
The test of thankfulness. Will I gripe and whine and complain, “Why me? Why am I sick? Doesn’t God know all that I have to get done?”. Or will I thank him for protecting me from something more serious, for his healing at work in our bodies, and for the opportunity to rest.
Last night, coughing up a lung on my pillow, I felt at peace. And I know that peace can only come from God, because my tendency is to whine and complain. I felt thankful, truly thankful, and was able to give thanks before him. He has done so much for me, protected me from so much, LOVED me so much. And the more I focus on that, the more I am able to have thankfulness in everything.
Psalm 107:8
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
