I sat talking to my kids, through a very croaky voice, when one responded, mommy, do you have a frog in your throat?
I didn’t explain I felt like death warmed over. I simply remarked mommy was a little sick and I’d taken medicine to get better. Truth was, I’d woken up feeling terrible. I barely got out the door for work on a Monday morning amid cries from two of the three over me leaving since daddy was whisking them off to the farm for a fun week to celebrate being out of school. On my commute, between bouts of feeling sorry for myself, I stopped at the Discount Tires to have my leaking tire checked out. I had shooting pain on the right side of my head and through my right ear and had started coughing.
Kids gone. Sicky McSick. Leaking tire.
And how did God show up, you ask?
First, the tire was fixable. In less than a half hour, they patched me up, wished me well, and sent me on my way. I didn’t spend a dime and was one of the first in line when they opened the doors.
Second, it’s really hard to be sick around kids. They need you constantly, and this gave me a couple of days to recuperate when I got home from work without needing to be “on.” When I got home at 7:30 last night, I collapsed in a chair with my Sudafed and Tylenol, and I may or may not have watched my guilty pleasure on t.v. despite the mound of work I needed to tackle at home.
Third, I had a client meeting on “my side of town” today which meant no hour-long commute and extra time in bed before having to work. I got a solid seven hours of sleep and was already feeling better when I woke up. It also gave me time to tidy up my house for reason number four.
Fourth, some of my girlfriends are coming over tonight. We try to get together every other month or every quarter and, with the kids gone, they were able to descend on my house for a low key evening of wine and appetizers and swimming and properly catching up. I could be in a ponytail and shorts and not have to worry about having a box of Kleenex handy.
You see, it’s so easy to focus on the icky. To focus on the hard. To focus on the struggle.
But it’s so much better to focus on where His Light comes through. It’s more accurate, too. Because He is in the middle of it all. He’s with my kids riding horses and spending time with grandma and grandpa. He’s with me in my work and my healing and my time to recuperate.
When you look through the hard, you see Him swooping in and, “covering you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart…no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91)
Photo Courtesy of Because of Grace
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