January 26, 2011

My Journey (part 1)


The house was full of people; a group brought in from a cookout by the roll of thunder.  As the adults conversed downstairs, children of all ages played above.  The storm grew louder along with the laughter and squeals from inside.
The laughter was severed when a bolt of lightning struck so close we could smell the smoke. 

A large tree in our yard had been struck; enough to kill it, but not enough to bring the mighty poplar down.  At the base of the tree, buried just below the surface, lay the newly installed underground dog fence.  The lightning bolt was fierce enough to travel through the wire conductor right up to our detached garage and blow the wiring off the wall.  Such fury left all of the electrical outlets blown and enough might to leave a dent in the garage door from the electrical box being flung across the room.

Such power.  Such destruction.

But it could have been so much worse.
My home was overflowing with children and parents.  We were immediately grateful for the protection of human lives.  We even laughed about the giant limbs that had narrowly missed our house.

But our laughter turned to frustration as we learned how much it would cost to have the now ravaged trees removed and the wiring replaced.  Grateful for lives spared.  Despaired over the financial burden.

This was not the only storm we had faced within the year.   Eight months earlier we had faced a different kind of storm that had brought us to our knees, literally.  My husband had been involved in a hunting accident.  Reconstructive surgeries and months of rehabilitation had left us worn out, both physically and financially. 

Looking back, I know in my heart of hearts that there are much worse storms that the human race faces on a daily basis.  To the cancer survivor, the parent who longs to hold an unborn child, or the broken hearted, this story may seem trivial.  But this is my journey.  My difficult road.  
My story.

To be continued...


7 comments:

Heather said...

i'm so thankful you shared that...that it is YOUR journey which doesn't lessen it at all. sometimes i feel so guilty for talking about being sick when i know there are others out there who are suffering so much more. i'm constantly worrying about being judged when really i need to not care and focus on MY journey.

Anonymous said...

two yrs ago, right around this time, i picked up the phone & called my friend, tara. tara had been battling cancer for a couple of yrs by that point, but i had been in a pretty intensive care-giving responsibility during her battle due to some health challenges w/in our family. so as a result, that was sadly the first time i had called her throughout those couple of yrs. she said that she had, in fact, wondered about my silence, but that the Lord had laid the thought on her heart that maybe i was facing something difficult as well. i confirmed that was the case, & she asked me to share what i was facing. did ya catch that? my friend w/ cancer, that sev. months later would take her life, was asking ME what i was facing. i told her that it didn't compare to what she was facing, so i didn't want to burden her w/ something so small in comparison.

and with that, she shared something that i will never forget . . .
she reminded me that in God's eyes, there is no "big" and "little" -- that it's ALL important to Him.

i was so humbled.

and as her body was fighting for its life, she expressed once again that she really wanted to know what was going on in mine.

so no, friend, your story is not trivial -- not to me, or the Lord.
thank you for being willing to share it.
- TZ

Anonymous said...

Beauty in your words. There is such power in sharing your story. I am not quite there yet, but so looking forward to sharing in yours. Thank you. :)

Sarah said...

I read a quote once that said "Do not be envious of another persons life. You do not know what their journey is about."
There is always someone with a "worse" story...but, we are all on a journey that God prepared for us before we were ever born. Thank you for sharing yours.
Sarah

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Your Story is of utmost importance to You and to Our God. Keep sharing...I'm hooked!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your story - at least the beginning. I know that sometimes our own trials seem pale in comparison to others, but they are ours. And that alone can make them significant to us. I'm listening.

Jill and Leeanne said...

Gretchen,
Thankful for your honest communication. You are not alone in your struggles. I am confident this is the reason the Bible speaks so much about envy is because WE ALL experience it. I love real people!