Finding Good in My Afflictions

Thursday evening, my husband called to say the truck had a flat tire. The guys at work helped him put his spare on. 

Saturday morning, we woke to a deflated tire on the Yukon. Fix-a-Flat didn't cure it. After WalMart's lube guys changed it out for the full-size spare, we discovered the inside edge had been worn through. It needs four new tires and an alignment. That's an $850 bill on top of the $200 for the new tires on the truck. 

Monday, my husband takes the Yukon to work and is stopped at the plant gate. The registration card in the vehicle is expired, even though I received and applied the new stickers to my tag. I missed seeing the registration card on the receipt. We spend two days wondering if dear hubby would lose his job because of the infraction. 

Thursday, I step outside to clean the kids' pool. My 9-year-old decides to cook chicken noodle soup. Any other day, this would be fine. On this day, however, he turns on the wrong burner. (He's never turned on the wrong burner before, but I have...) It still wouldn't be a problem, but that day the plastic colander sat on the back burner, drying from its recent washing. And the boy had popped his head out to see what I was doing. When I asked him to help me remove the water from the pool, he happily grabbed a bucket and joined me poolside, forgetting he was cooking. Simple mistake. Until my 11-year-old came running out of the house, tears streaming down his face, screaming "Fire! Fire! Fire!" (Thankfully he'd paid attention to the teachings on fire safety.) I kicked off my flip flops and ran for the house. I faced two-foot flames and a burning colander on the stove top and counter. I turned the burner off. I carefully moved the colander from the counter top to the sink. (FYI - burning plastic doesn't like to go out.) I doused the flames with water. Then, forgetting that it's baking soda that puts out fire on an electric stove top, I grabbed the flour. When that didn't put the fire out, I splashed some water on. Thankfully, the only serious damage done was to the colander, and our smoke detector works. 

Friday night, my husband and I have a blow-out with one another. Not pretty. I spend a restless night on the couch, tossing and turning, crying out to God. I think I slept four hours before waking to his alarm. After I showered, we spent three hours locked in the master bathroom, struggling through our dissensions, working toward a renewed unity.

Can you say H-E-A-D-A-C-H-E?

Isn't this like most times of trial and tribulation? It's not one-thing-at-a-time. It's all of it hitting the fan. Like a snowball, starting with one, small thing. Once it starts rolling, we're facing an iceberg, wondering if it's going to sink our ship.

Sunday, my husband and I read Psalm 119 together. Imagine my surprise when God brought this verse out into the light:

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted,

 That I may learn Your statutes."

 ~ Psalm 119:71

Selah. Think about that. It is good for me that I've been afflicted. Say what? How is affliction a good thing?

Because it provides a learning experience in which God can get through to us. 

It's in our trials that we turn to Him. 

It's in our darkest moments that He can reveal the sin that's hidden in our hearts.  

It's in our weakest moments that He is strong. 

It's in our pain that He can make His presence known. 

It's in the affliction that we can learn a lesson about His goodness.  

These are the life-changing moments when we can decide to let go of our will and succumb to His will for our lives.

I ask you this: When you face trials and tribulations, when you find yourself facing afflictions on all sides, what is your response?

We can take Job's wife's recommendation. "Curse God and die!"

Or we can do what Jesus did. We can lay down our lives, our selfish desires, and we can take up the cross and follow hard after Him. We can ask God to remove those planks from our eyes, those roots from our hearts. We can ask Him to forgive us, to heal us, and allow Him to change our hearts.

The truck tires, the Yukon tires - they were simple lack of preparing ahead of time. We didn't set money aside, expecting the need to one day arise. Human error. Wrong spending. We need to deal with our financial issues.

The registration and two days of worry? Simple mistake. A pothole in the road. Fortunately, my husband is a dedicated worker who strives for excellence in his job. The company recognizes that and deemed it necessary to keep him.

The fire? Again, simple mistake. Sometimes, we try to do too much at once, or we don't concentrate on what we're trying to accomplish, and we "miss" the most important thing. What are we missing today?

The blow-out? Twelve years (almost thirteen) of allowing our same-old-selves to remain unchanged in certain areas. Granted, we've come a long way from the day we cut covenant with one another, but some things still need work. And that's exactly what it is. Work. But we'll make it work. Thankfully, we aren't afraid to change. We aren't afraid to face our own deficits. We are willing to give each other another chance to get it right. Just like Jesus gives each of us another chance upon repentance. Just like God's mercies are new every day... 

Photo Courtesy of Stephen Gibson budgetstockphoto.com

Week in Review

Sometimes I realize that I need to just sit back and breathe. I need to think, reflect, refocus, and prepare to go on. Thursdays are a great day to do that. Most of the week is behind me, and Friday is payday. It's the day before the weekend, which is reserved for family and fun. 

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NKJV)


When I posted this Scripture to my facebook profile a couple of days ago, I didn't realize just how much tribulation I would be facing this week. My sister-in-law had visited for the weekend, and outside of a few arguments between the kids, it was an enjoyable weekend. 


The excitement began Sunday evening, when my husband was out hunting with a friend. He is fine. My van is not. We have owned a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country since 2004. We bought it used, with 40,000 miles on it. We've driven it North to South and South to North across the country at least three times. We've towed U-Haul trailers with it, filled to the brim with our worldly possessions. That's a lot of weight. The van has served us very well. At 163,000 miles, she decided she'd had enough, and she let her transmission go. Goodbye van. Hello new loan payment. (We paid for the van outright. That was nice.)


But, that was not where our excitement would end. The kids were messing around the next day, running through my house after school. I guess they had to get a lot of energy out. One of them must have had a sharp object carefully concealed in their little hands, because I found my air mattress to be rather flat when I sat on it. I only wanted to put my shoes on, but I discovered rather quickly that I would not be able to sleep well that night. I pulled the sheet back and started hunting for the leak. Fortunately, my husband was able to patch the hole, and our bed won't cost another hundred dollars this week.


Our final excitement has been the scurry to withdraw our children from their current school. This is one of the most difficult decisions that a parent will have to make. To homeschool? Or not to homeschool? That is the question.

For several weeks now our children have gathered with us around the dinner table. The stories of their days at school have been fairly repetitive. 

The oldest starts with, "Today was the most horrible day of my life." His day consists of boys and girls telling him he's a booger head, he stinks (he does not), and he's fat (he is not). 

The middle child says, "I want to be homeschooled." To have this come from the child who has curiosity, intelligence, and creativity to boot is highly unusual. He has seen the torment that other students have poured out on his siblings. He has tired of defending his sister on a daily basis. 


The youngest, the only princess, has continually cried that other girls are mean to her. One boy has turned her into a seven year old punching bag. He pokes, swats, kicks, and shoves every chance he gets. To the teacher's favor, she did move him away from my daughter when requested. To the school's disfavor, they really should have a better eye and ear on their students. Just last night, she informed me that another little boy told her on the bus that his brother was coming after her.


We have been dealing with attitudes and issues that we've never dealt with in the previous years of our children and their education. Two are failing math. Two have gotten written up for fighting one another on the bus. Enough is enough, already.


Some people don't get why others decide to homeschool their kids. They look down noses with disgust. Maybe it's too old school for them. But for this family, old school is far better than daily torture and torment because other children around them have no role models. 


Of course, that is not our only reason for homeschooling. We value what God values, and those values are rarely taught in our schools today. Instead of Creation, they teach evolution. Instead of marriage, they teach alternative lifestyles. Instead of having prayer, they have a moment of silence. I respect other people's choices and religious beliefs, but if you don't want my God in public schools, then keep your own out, as well. In my school, God will be present. My children will learn to love one another because God says to. Credit will be given to Whom credit is due.

My children will still have a social life. Their social life will be improved, honestly. Right now their social life involves people constantly picking at them both physically and verbally. It is emotionally damaging. It is difficult for them to process at their age. It shouldn't be allowed. Their new social life will consist of having friends over who will respect them and be kind to them. They will socialize on the public playground, continuing to "make new friends," as they call it. They will hang out with friends at church and be taught by their Sunday School and Children's Ministry leaders. They will have fun, and they will enjoy themselves.

And I will rest assured that my kids are okay. My supervision is better than most anyone's will be, because I am Mom. They belong with me. They belong to me. They are mine. And I love them!


We are actually looking forward to homeschool. The kids are excited that they will be learning at home. We are going to plan a lot of field trips, social outings, looking for learning opportunities in everyday life, and more. Here's to a new week, and a new season in life...right in time for spring!


I am thankful that Jesus reminds us that we have peace when we have Him. In Him, we overcome the world. I like that. A lot.