Our Journey (Post 28)

Friday, June 28, 2013

I have wanted to update this blog for a couple of days now, but time and illness have kept me at bay.   Monday, Doran introduced a nasty stomach bug to our household...remind me to thank him!  On Tuesday we went to get a chemo treatment and it went well.   On Wednesday, Jeff was feeling pretty good and our day went very well.  Then came Thursday...

Thursday morning, I awoke with a terrible headache (that Tylenol wouldn't touch) and a sick feeling in my stomach.   Jeff woke up feeling like he had been hit by a truck.  He had pain in all his joints and we generally not feeling well.    As the day wore on, we both felt worse and worse.   Bleh!

Today, I woke up feeling better and was hoping for the same for him...it was not to be...he was in a LOT of pain.  Then the princess, Abbi, stirred and reported that now SHE didn't feel so good.   At this point I am ready to scream...enough sickness...get out of my house!

Isn't it funny that when we hit our low point, God is just getting ready to do something amazing!   I sat on the sofa, having a little pity party and wondering if God could even see me anymore.   Not long after that a friend called to tell me that her husband was on his way to our house with a dishwasher.

Now, let me back up and tell you, our dishwasher went out on us a few months ago...I think it was in March.  With the cost of medical bills and an uncertainty about our future, we didn't want to go into more debt to get a new one.   Plus, we have 3 able bodied children who are perfectly capable of washing dishes.   At first it was quite a chore to get them to do it, but they caught on pretty quick (however, they never stopped complaining!).  

I saw that my friends were getting rid of a dishwasher and messaged them to see if I could get it.  They said sure and plans were made for them to deliver it today.  So, they pull up today with a box in the back of the truck and I'm thinking, wow, they put the old dishwasher in the box from the new one...they are so organized!   So then I learn that not only did they bring it but now they are going to install it for us...how I held the tears back I will never know!   Still I had no idea just how big this blessing was gonna be.   They proceed to remove the old dishwasher (which was no easy feat) and then tear open the box for the new one.   Yes, that's right... a NEW one.  Brand spanking new!  I had to leave the room and go pull myself together.   These precious people not only went out and bought us a new dishwasher, they worked for over 2 hours installing it!

Tonight, the dishes are washing (quietly) as I write.   No "Doran needs to come rinse these dishes" or "Why do I have to wash tonight" or "I can't wash because she didn't put the dishes away last night"!   Just a quiet little whirrr.   Ahhhh peace!  How I have missed you!

As if that wasn't enough, another friend sent over some fresh field peas...straight from heaven, I mean the garden!  Oh Lord, You DO see me!   I didn't ask for the new dishwasher...but You saw fit to bless me with it.   I didn't ask for the bounty from the garden...but again, you have blessed me.  He uses people that just let themselves be used.   People who simply say, "Here I am, Lord, send me".   See, their mission field wasn't a foreign country today.   It wasn't an inner city shelter or even a half-way house.   Today, their mission field was a friend who needed what they had.   It was a pastor's wife who was at the end of her rope and needed to know that God cared.   They were God's hands extended to me, today.   A sweet reminder that God blesses us, not with "things" but with people who are precious and who are willing to use their giftings to bless others.

Thank you, God, for friends.  Precious people who don't just say they have faith, but put their faith into action.    Help me to always be ready to use what I have to bless others.  I am blessed to be a blessing.