D
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My hubby and I had some pretty awful things happen to us before we ever met, and things were just settling down again at the time we met. Especially because of what he had gone through in his life, I prayed that the Lord will give us some peace and quiet for a while.
And the Lord was kind enough to do that for us for two years and two days. Two days after our second anniversary, hubby broke his back. Not the kind of break that paralyzed him, but the kind of break that said, "You'll never go back to being an HVAC mechanic on the streets again."
Considering the kind of jobs I could do didn't pay enough for us to live on, it was definitely scary. But God worked out a bunch of stuff that always worked out that we had food and shelter. Still, it took us 3-5 years to work our way back up to middle-class again.
And all was good for a decade, before our life was topsy turvy again. One thing after another hit. (He did find heating work again, just not on the streets. He worked for the federal government on a base, and working for the federal government means safety first, so he couldn't do the reckless things he had to do on the streets that broke his back. And then we learned his base was closing in five years, but the government paid for him to learn a new skill, and he chose computer networking. Which would have worked out, if Novell had stayed the number one computer networking platform, but in the 13 months it took him to be certified, Novell went from 75% of all business networking systems to Microsoft winning that market, so half of what he learned was useless. Meanwhile, I started a home-base business, that had just become profitable, when gallstone colic turned into a permanently disabling pinched nerve in my back, at the same time the Y2K bug was being fixed by hundred's of thousands of computer techies, like hubby, and then there were hundreds of thousands of computer techies with no purpose to work anymore, and the computer filed couldn't support them all, just as three jets -- the fourth being crashed by passengers -- went through three well-known American buildings, which closed the skies for three days, putting many businesses to death, causing a recession, leaving that many more Americans out of work. And meanwhile, hubby got "three-day-flus" that we only discovered 18 months later, when we ran out of savings and retirement money, was Hepatitis C, so he had to go through 24 weeks of chemo right when we ran out of money. And, sure enough, 2% of people who go through chemo end up being disabled, and hubby is a 2%er.) And poof, we were back to broke, and three weeks from losing the house.
Sooo, we had to climb up from flat broke to not-middle-class anymore. But with God's grace, we did. And we were content.
Little blip for when hubby found out he had cancer ten years later. Little blip because it was a polyp on his kidney, and was frozen out, before we found out it was cancer.
But 14 months after that he had the massive heart attack.
And, last June he finally came home, and struggled to regain his strength and get back to usual.
After all this, we kind of thought this is life as believers. Something is always going to go wrong, and we'd need God to keep us together. And, truly we were content. This last year was great, as I watched him getting better and better. Truly content.
Then weird things started happening. Last week, he had a follow-up with his cardiologist. Something about his heart was supposed to be at 45%, but it was only 40-41% made all his doctors nervous. He was at 45% when he left the hospital, so this was something different, and not good. For the last year, every time he see his primary or his cardiologist, that meant he'd spend the next month getting one test or another. The last couple of months he had to go through quite a few tests, and the tests themselves took a toll on him, so we were expecting bad news.
Didn't happen. His heart is okay. Not great, but works well for a 70 year old. He doesn't have to see his cardiologist until December! He really is back to normal. This is causing quite a few
in our lives.
And then this last weekend Ed and gang really fixed up our house in ways we just thought would never happen. Way more
Soooo, is it normal for God to give good things after so long of bad things? Or, generally speaking, does God either bring mostly good things or mostly bad things?
I know we're not going to live forever, (although that's a good thing), and from past experience the dying part won't be easy, but we really were content -- knowing God was taking care of us. Just didn't ever expect God would do it at luxury levels ever again, and he has... TWICE in one week. I feel like I'm on our honeymoon again. I also tend to keep ducking, because surely something else tough has to happen soon.
Anyone know if this is how it works out for most? Or if the next shoe is going to drop? I forgot what normal is, and now that I see it again, it's both pleasing and odd.
And the Lord was kind enough to do that for us for two years and two days. Two days after our second anniversary, hubby broke his back. Not the kind of break that paralyzed him, but the kind of break that said, "You'll never go back to being an HVAC mechanic on the streets again."
Considering the kind of jobs I could do didn't pay enough for us to live on, it was definitely scary. But God worked out a bunch of stuff that always worked out that we had food and shelter. Still, it took us 3-5 years to work our way back up to middle-class again.
And all was good for a decade, before our life was topsy turvy again. One thing after another hit. (He did find heating work again, just not on the streets. He worked for the federal government on a base, and working for the federal government means safety first, so he couldn't do the reckless things he had to do on the streets that broke his back. And then we learned his base was closing in five years, but the government paid for him to learn a new skill, and he chose computer networking. Which would have worked out, if Novell had stayed the number one computer networking platform, but in the 13 months it took him to be certified, Novell went from 75% of all business networking systems to Microsoft winning that market, so half of what he learned was useless. Meanwhile, I started a home-base business, that had just become profitable, when gallstone colic turned into a permanently disabling pinched nerve in my back, at the same time the Y2K bug was being fixed by hundred's of thousands of computer techies, like hubby, and then there were hundreds of thousands of computer techies with no purpose to work anymore, and the computer filed couldn't support them all, just as three jets -- the fourth being crashed by passengers -- went through three well-known American buildings, which closed the skies for three days, putting many businesses to death, causing a recession, leaving that many more Americans out of work. And meanwhile, hubby got "three-day-flus" that we only discovered 18 months later, when we ran out of savings and retirement money, was Hepatitis C, so he had to go through 24 weeks of chemo right when we ran out of money. And, sure enough, 2% of people who go through chemo end up being disabled, and hubby is a 2%er.) And poof, we were back to broke, and three weeks from losing the house.
Sooo, we had to climb up from flat broke to not-middle-class anymore. But with God's grace, we did. And we were content.
Little blip for when hubby found out he had cancer ten years later. Little blip because it was a polyp on his kidney, and was frozen out, before we found out it was cancer.
But 14 months after that he had the massive heart attack.
And, last June he finally came home, and struggled to regain his strength and get back to usual.
After all this, we kind of thought this is life as believers. Something is always going to go wrong, and we'd need God to keep us together. And, truly we were content. This last year was great, as I watched him getting better and better. Truly content.
Then weird things started happening. Last week, he had a follow-up with his cardiologist. Something about his heart was supposed to be at 45%, but it was only 40-41% made all his doctors nervous. He was at 45% when he left the hospital, so this was something different, and not good. For the last year, every time he see his primary or his cardiologist, that meant he'd spend the next month getting one test or another. The last couple of months he had to go through quite a few tests, and the tests themselves took a toll on him, so we were expecting bad news.
Didn't happen. His heart is okay. Not great, but works well for a 70 year old. He doesn't have to see his cardiologist until December! He really is back to normal. This is causing quite a few
And then this last weekend Ed and gang really fixed up our house in ways we just thought would never happen. Way more
Soooo, is it normal for God to give good things after so long of bad things? Or, generally speaking, does God either bring mostly good things or mostly bad things?
I know we're not going to live forever, (although that's a good thing), and from past experience the dying part won't be easy, but we really were content -- knowing God was taking care of us. Just didn't ever expect God would do it at luxury levels ever again, and he has... TWICE in one week. I feel like I'm on our honeymoon again. I also tend to keep ducking, because surely something else tough has to happen soon.
Anyone know if this is how it works out for most? Or if the next shoe is going to drop? I forgot what normal is, and now that I see it again, it's both pleasing and odd.