Valuable Lessons Learned
I know not to worry about things too much until they happen, but in my desire to be prepared for what seemed like the inevitable, I caused myself undue stress and pain this past week. I was stressed out enough lately I currently have my first cold in about 2 years. I had two serious issues that were suppose to have heartbreaking resolve on two consecutive days. Well, it didn’t happen! I can only hope in the future that I can remember God has it all under control. In the event things do turn out as expected, there will be plenty of time to grieve and to cry.
Last week was an emotionally draining week. My wonderful former mother-in-law has been very ill. She went in the hospital a couple days after everyone was over for Thanksgiving, for emergency surgery and progressively got worse. I’ve known her since I was 19 and even though I’ve been divorced from her son for 20 years, it hasn’t mattered. I have 3 boys with her son and she has treated my 2 daughters like her own (as does my former husband). Our family goes beyond blood! It would be a great loss to all of us to no longer have her with us.
Well, last Wednesday it was decided to remove the ventilator and allow nature to take its course. Many medications were also stopped so, what was expected to be the inevitable, could occur naturally. I had seen her the week before and it had brought back memories of when my own mom was in the hospital surrounded by IV trees and too many lines and tubes to count (my mom didn’t survive her illness and left at the early age of 56). As I dealt with my own pain thinking of losing her and my memories of my parents passing, my heart went out to the family because I knew what they were going through to see their mom like that and the uncertainty of life each day. My heart broke for my sons because they would lose their grandma and my dear grand daughter, who was too young to understand why she wouldn’t ever see her great grandma again. Well, Wednesday we waited for “the call”. Towards the end of the day, my boys’ dad called to say she was responding and they left the ventilator in! It was such a relief.
With my iGoogle I have a daily Bible verse gadget added to my inspiration tab that gives me a new Bible verse daily. This is pretty interesting…..the Bible verse for Wednesday (and it has not changed as of today) was John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. It still gives me goose bumps!
She had a breathing mask on for a day and was able to make her wishes known that she did not want a DNR (do not resuscitate) order signed and wanted to be resuscitated by any means! She just isn’t ready to go yet! She has a long road to recovery, but it looks promising. I am SO happy. If she needs to be closer to services that are available where I live, she will stay with me if needed.
That in itself was a lot to deal with. In addition to that, my ongoing issue that began in March was to have a resolve on Thursday. I have spent time preparing to deal with the possibility of it not going the way I’d like it to. The resolve of that was postponed to February!
It was a painfully emotionally exhausting week. While I was distracted and couldn’t quite get into the Christmas spirit to decorate my house, God was working away behind the scenes! I can only hope as things so serious come up again, that I will remember the lessons learned and wait until things happen to mourn loss. I wasted a lot of energy mourning things that didn’t happen. When there is something to mourn, there will be plenty of time for tears then. So much weight was lifted that I feel like I could float away!
Maybe your sites and internet income aren’t coming in like you would like with the economy the way it is, but don’t waste energy mourning your losses or possible losses. Things could turn around for you at any time and may be right around the corner! Use the energy to develop new ventures that will thrive during a poor economy.