New Year’s Eve(2017), I slipped on an icy wooden bridge. After two emergency room visits and trip to an orthopedic surgeon, I had surgery to repair my shattered arm that needed to be connected back to my shoulder. Life got more interesting, to say the least!
It’s been three weeks without a shower to prevent the surgeon’s bandaid from coming off. Mark has to help me do a sponge bath, dress me and put on my shoes. Obviously, I can’t wash my hair. I have to sleep sitting up in a recliner. I’m off work for six weeks and this is my sweetest group ever to teach. I hope they don’t forget me.
The day after I fell, the heater broke in our home. After waiting two weeks on a part, they informed us that it can’t be fixed and I needed a whole new system! The temperature outside was our coldest winter yet.
The week after the surgery, I left a glass pan of brownies on the stove and turned that burner on by accident. The glass exploded into a million pieces. The brownies caught on fire. I have a piece of glass in my finger on my arm that looks like it’s getting infected.
Why am I writing a blog about this stuff? Because I started writing a thankful list a couple of months ago when my precious dad died of ALS. I have realized that it is impossible to have bitterness or jealously or fears when your heart is full of gratitude. I have literally stopped myself in the middle of tears and got a grip and started thanking God for His faithfulness.
Every time I made myself do that, I realized that I could trust a God with that particular problem. When my dad died, I was overjoyed that his suffering was over forever!!! He is now in the “great crowd of witnesses” that are cheering us on.
When I left the emergency room that day with the name of an orthopedic surgeon, we called and found out he was out of town. That office referred me to an incredibly wonderful surgeon who happens to be the team doctor for the Texas Rangers baseball team. Needless to say, I feel like I got the best surgeon in town. After they saw my X-ray, they operated the very next day.
The heater that is broken was the heater to the bedrooms. Even though the temperature back there was 50 degrees, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t sleep in my bed anyway due to my shoulder. It will be warm when I need it to be warm when I can sleep lying down. Perfect timing.
As far as missing six weeks of teaching. Any teacher reading this blog probably understands that this was my biggest concern. God, ever faithful, had this worked out. An incredible teacher from another school had just retired two weeks earlier...in December. What are the odds of that?
As far as the explosion of the glass dish, this was amazing how God protected me. I happened to be in the den. I set a timer for 7 minutes to remind me turn down the burner on the boiled eggs. The explosion took place at 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Thirty seconds later, when the timer went off, I realized that I would have been standing in front of the exploding glass to turn off the burner! I know that this piece of glass stuck in my finger will eventual come out. Until then, it is a reminder of how God kept Mark and I from great harm.
I would encourage you to start a thankfulness list. Write in it often and read the posts when you are discouraged. Build the habit of thankfulness.
“Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 ERV
1 Thessalonians 5:18 ERV
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