Two Weeks Of Grace

Posted on March 22, 2010 
Filed Under Fathering, Parenting, Personal, Physical Health, Spiritual Life

Grace…it was two weeks of pure grace in our lives. About 18 years ago our little (at the time) family endured quite a few mishaps and no small amount of misfortune. During that time, we experienced God’s grace in some amazing ways. The year was 1992, and my journal entries reveal the saga:

o Tues – Dakota (3 years old at the time) fell off the playground equipment at Portal Park, hitting his head on a concrete culvert intended for kids to crawl through. He was taken to an emergency care facility and x-rays showed minimal swelling. Pretty scary for his parents, though!

o Wed – Dakota now has a virus, with a high fever

o Thurs – Dakota still has that virus

o Fri – Seth, 5 months old, has the virus now, and slept little last night

o Sat – Seth has a fever, almost 104 degrees. While at the pharmacy for his medicine, I started feeling poorly.

o Sun (Super Bowl) – I’ve got the virus and stay in bed, Dakota feeling weak. Dena is SuperMom.

o Mon – Dena has the virus, and with little sick time accrued, I go in late. She hangs on through the day.

o Tues – Dena a bit better, but now has an infection.

o Wed – Dena’s infection intensifies.

o Thurs – Today we avoid disaster, and maybe this season of physical ailments is over?

o Fri – All quiet. We are hopeful for an uneventful weekend.

o Sat – Nice day, we go to Garden of the Gods city park for some sunny relaxation. Dena’s first time out of the house in a week!

o Sun – Five minutes before leaving for church, Dena is frantic. “He swallowed it! He swallowed it!” I try to calm her down as she searches around the bed for…a hair barrett. No trace of the 3½ inch hair clip, and so we call the pediatrician. The pediatrician suggests an x-ray, so we head to the hospital. The x-rays show that he did indeed swallow the thing, and we wait almost four hours for a surgeon and team to extract the clip. We are on the phone to Texas friends and family, feeling anxious. Greg and Tami, local friends, “happen” to be touring the hospital for the upcoming birth of their second child — and when I hear Greg’s voice I felt as though God were sending me a tangible reminder of His love and sovereignty. Co-workers Steve and LuAnne come by with sandwiches – quite welcome since we had skipped lunch. Seth became a bit of a local celebrity as we waited for surgery – “there’s the little boy who swallowed a hair barrett!” What could have been a tragic incident turned out to be an easy problem for God to care for. Seth made it with no problems through surgery and recovery! We head home 12 hours after we arrived at the hospital. Within a few days, we were surrounded with love. Our friends Fred and Cynthia sent $100 for “medical bills.” We received encouraging long distance calls from other folks. We were deeply touched by the kindness and generosity of so many.

Looking back, I am almost moved to tears as I recall the trials and difficulties! What a time for our family! We endured much, and probably aged a few years just in that two week’s time.  With no other choice, really, we relied on God’s abundant grace through it all. And we never doubted His care for us and His ability to show Himself, even in our weaknesses.

All of that brings to mind the verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9, in which God assures us that it is in our weaknesses that He delights to show Himself:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

I’m so glad for the way God showed us the truth of that verse, even though it was a hard lesson to grab onto. These days, when we hit a rough stretch in life, we look back and know – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that He is able, and willing, and caring…especially when we are unable and weak.

By the way, I still have the hair barrett. And Seth still has his “dime slot” scar just above his belly button. A couple of tangible reminders of the two weeks of grace.

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