i visited donna downey's blog today, followed a link, and stumbled into something so scary and wonderful and inspiring and saddening. i just have to share this.
read the story of teagan here. this family was happy and normal the one minute, and devastated the next. i warn you, it will bring tears to your eyes! so, wait until you have a quiet time to read it. but whatever you do, don't miss it!
then, experience the growth, and strength, and daily struggle and sadness that jody, her mother, experiences. and then join me in counting our blessings!
reading all this reminded me of a poem that brought me much comfort in the dark days after ronnie's death. it is by Mary Hathaway
So i shall feel the waves:
"when you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. when you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. when you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flame will not consume you" Isiah 43:2
So i shall feel the waves
and hear the storm,
the waters will sometimes cover me,
the currents will pull at my feet,
i shall be afraid for my life,
but -
i shall not drown.
So i shall feel the heat,
i shall be scorched,
i shall be burned,
and despair of my life,
but -
the flames will not consume me.
YOU do not promise a life
full of frothy joy,
YOU promise LIFE -
in all it's fullness,
with it's pain and suffering
as well as it's love and joy.
YOU are real, LORD,
YOU are true, LORD,
and I rest in YOUR word
in my despair and confusion
in the sure knowledge
that i shall come through.
this woman's poetry is awesome.
and then i want to end with this that i wrote in 2005, almost 3 years after ronnie's death:
what i have learned:
1. THINGS happen.
2. BAD THINGS happen to good people.
3. almost all people can survive BAD THINGS, even when the think they can't.
4. many people can lean and grow and flourish and be happy after BAD THINGS, in spite of BAD THINGS, or even because of BAD THINGS.
5. you see things in perspective: when little, every day THINGS happen, you are grateful that it's not BAD THINGS, and you deal with it.
6. i know now that i can deal with BAD THINGS. it is terrible and difficult and painful, but it is survivable.
7. i hope that if BAD THINGS ever happen to this good person again, i can deal with it as positively as before.
8. you never have to deal with BAD THINGS alone. every good person has many people beside her to pray and comfort and help shovel all the BAD THINGS.
9. you cannot choose what happens to you. but you can choose how you react to what happens to you. you can CHOOSE to grow and learn and be happy.
10. all things in life are possible and bearable and positive, through GOD, who gives us strength.
to all the jody's out there: i can imagine (a little) how you are hurting, but i cannot change those feelings; i can speak the words, but i cannot comfort you; i can hug you, but i cannot fill the emptiness. but i can pray for you, and HE can.
love, jacki
SCRAPPIN TIMES