Have you ever heard someone say “they must not be living right” when they hear of others going through a difficult situation or time in their life? No one ever says it about serious issues like illnesses, but about the sometimes annoying things that happen in life. Days when nothing seems to go according to plan.
Have you ever had one of those weeks? Have you ever paused and thought back to any decisions you made prior to those days that seemed to fall apart?
Anything that Could Go Wrong
The last week of March brought confirmation about a couple of things I have been praying about for the past nine months. Then the first week of April anything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.
I planned out my Monday determined to get myself in a more productive routine. Monday morning had other ideas as it sometimes does. My son woke with pain in his hip. I call them phantom pains. Pains having no rhyme, reason or cause. I eventually get him to school trying once again to get back to the routine I had planned for myself.
Monday evening a close family member had to be hospitalized and my husband did not make it home until almost midnight.
Tuesday arrived and I dive into my new routine and the day moves along nicely in spite of the illness with the family member.
But all that changed during the early morning hours of Wednesday morning. I woke during the night and ended up falling doing a pretty bang up job on my shoulder. And I don’t mean that in a good way. By Wednesday morning as my husband and son were leaving for school and work I was worried I had broken something. I could barely get dressed my shoulder hurt so badly. Any movement of my arm caused pain.
Nothing was broken, but the ER put me in a sling, nonchalantly said it looked like there was a bit of separation in my shoulder, told me to see an orthopedic doctor and sent me home with pain relievers.
Thankfully the trip to the orthopedic doctor brought better news that it was just severely bruised, instructions to lose the sling, rest it, ice it and come back in a week if it wasn’t better.
Still in a great deal of pain I breathed a sigh of relief.
Approved
Still with all the events of the week I couldn’t help but wonder why. Why did it feel like anything that could go wrong was? I could have laughed saying “I must not be living right.”
But I think the opposite is true. Not that I was living perfectly. I am far from that. No, opposite in that I am beginning to believe when you make decisions and you have complete peace about them I think you can expect resistance. I’m not one to see the devil around every corner, but I do believe we battle an unseen enemy. And sometimes all it wants is to frustrate and discourage you.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)
Was it frustrating that nothing seemed to be going according to my plans for the week? Absolutely. But I kept counting the gifts and tried to keep a positive attitude believing that the decisions made the week before were approved by God.
After all, I know His grace is sufficient. Even when it all seems to be falling apart.
Have you ever had a week where nothing went according to plan? What gifts are you thankful for today?
909. For an outside run/walk. (4.2.12)
910. For fields of red clover. (4.2.12)
911. For sunrises through fog. (4.3.12)
912. For no copay at ER. (4.4.12)
913. For birds singing outside my window. (4.4.12)
914. For Penguins of Madagascar. (4.4.12)
915. For time to read and rest. (4.4.12)
916. For powerade. (4.4.12)
917. For my shoulder not being separated like ER doctor thought, but just severely bruised! (4.5.12)
918. For Chris taking such good care of me. (4.5.12)
919. For Sarah Beth and all she does. (4.5.12)
920. For the return of the banana pudding milkshake. (4.6.12)
921. For an incredible Easter service on Good Friday! (4.6.12)
922. For my shoulder healing. (4.9.12)
923. For a morning of exploring with my camera. (4.10.12)
924. For a two mile walk. (4.10.12)
925. For Sam playing outside. (4.10.12)
926. For ice packs. (4.10.12)
927. For Chris’s mom coming home from the hospital. (4.10.12
928. For blueberry bagels. (4.11.12)
929. For a husband who doesn’t mind cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. (4.12.12)
930. For naps. (4.13.12)
931. For a spring breeze. (4.14.12)
932. For golden light. (4.14.12)
Joining in with Peter Pollock and the One Word Blog Carnival: Approved.