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I was watching a talk show recently when a little boy and his family were invited up on stage. You could tell by the way he walked that something was wrong. The host asked the mother to explain the boy’s condition. In a voice choked with emotion she said that her son had no skin covering his legs or 70% of his body. (I don’t remember the lengthy name of the disease, but there is no cure.) He has to stay wrapped in bandages. It takes three hours a day to wrap him, stopping for several breaks because it’s excruciatingly painful. He’s always in pain. But he sat there smiling, just excited to be on the show. His mother said that he never complains.
If my heart wasn’t already in pieces for the pain he has to endure, it definitely broke when I saw his happy and full-of-life demeanor. It was so much better than mine!
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” We’ve all heard that expression and think that’s easier said than done. But those who choose to make that lemonade–sometimes from the sourest lemons–are people who remind us of how we’d like to be:
I strive to have the attitude of this boy.
I long to have the patience and lovingkindness of the mothers I know who deal with special needs children everyday. I am in awe of the strength that I see in moms who have lost their children. I sit in amazement at the endurance of those suffering with cancer.
“We don’t have problems.”
This is my go-to line. I have said this to my husband on multiple occasions after seeing others suffer, hearing of tragedies, even just watching the news. It helps me not to feel sorry for myself and not to dwell on the problem areas in my life. I could make a list of my problems–most of us probably could–but I dare not read it aloud. No, the only purpose of this list would be to read it and then conclude: “It’s just life stuff. We don’t have problems.”
My husband and I are in the middle of the Experiencing God study. It is all about making the choice. Choosing a daily love relationship with God and then watching and waiting to see what He will do in your life (in spite of and even through the problems on your list).
I assure you, He can give you grace and strength to face everything on that list.
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. ~ Isaiah 40:31
About Christa Young
Christa and her family relocated to the coast of Georgia in 2014. Her husband had longed to go “home” to the beach for some time. She has been busy raising children, homeschooling some years, and being very involved with church for 20 years in Nashville, TN. Her daughter is away at college and her son is a tall basketball player in high school. She finds herself in a new phase of life and, although scary at times, is taking it one day at a time. God has always taken care of her family; she feels beyond blessed~
