The Dark Days are Over! God's love Wins!

Last week I posted a fairly dark entry.  I was in a bad place and just couldn't get out of it.  I needed the release that blogging gives me, so I let everyone know just how awful things can be for a caregiver, a wife, a mom, in short, a human being dealing with cancer for the third time.  And you all responded to me in such a beautiful fashion.  You really helped me to be able to get through that very dark day.  I hope to never have one like that again!   I am much, much better now and am once again, the happy, loving, caring Julie that you all have grown to know and love!  Ha, ha!  I'm guessing that some of the people that read my blog are reading it because they are happy to know about all the challenges we have had to face.  But you know what?  I don't care!  I have the Lord on my side.  He is here, holding my hand, and speaking life into my heart.  He has been with us every step of the way, from almost losing our house to foreclosure, to having to file for bankruptcy when our business failed to losing our 5th wheel instead (that paid our mortgage for almost a year!), to Greg's 1st bout with cancer, his second bout with cancer and bone marrow transplant, and now his third bout with cancer!  Yes, He is here, and He is wonderful!   All the glory is His!

Every so often, I think about my current job that provides us with health insurance at a cost that is much less than what most people pay.  I had temped for this company back when we first had the idea to open our store.  If I had actually applied for a job there and never opened our store, we would certainly be much further ahead financially than we are now, but I ignored that little voice.  It seems that, like with Jonah, God chased me down and turned me around and got me back to where he wanted me in the first place!  Unlike with Jonah, it took me over 10 years to get where He wanted me to be to begin with.  Obviously, He knew what was coming down the pike, and knew that we were going to need health insurance!

I know you all know the story of Jonah and the whale, but do you know why he was swallowed by that whale?  It's because God told him to go to Nineveh, and he refused, instead, running away in the opposite direction to Tarshish.   It was because of his disobedience to God that he ended up in the belly of that whale.  God kept him alive in that belly for three days and three nights and when he was spit out on the shore, God again commanded him to go to Nineveh.  And, lo and behold, Jonah listened the second time!   (I would imagine being stuck in the belly of a whale for three days and three nights was enough to get him to listen to God!)  Read the Book of Jonah, and you will understand what I am trying to say.  It's so much more than a man and a whale.  I'm not saying that I'm anything like Jonah, but you need to understand that God wants us to be where He wants us to be.  And we don't always listen.  One way or another, you WILL end up where He wants you to be.  Whether that's in the belly of a whale, or struggling to find a job to be able to pay your mortgage and provide health insurance for your family.  He will continue to correct you until you are where He wants you to be.  You may not understand, but all will be clear one day, when you are face to face with Him.

OK, so, on Monday, Greg got a phone call from someone who said he had spoken to his father and wanted to come and try to get our lawn equipment started.  We had three things that wouldn't start after winter, and we really needed them to be able to get our yard taken care of.  We have a pressure washer, a push mower and a walk-behind trimmer and not one of them would start!  The riding mower did, so we were able to get some of the yard cut, but with all the rain, we couldn't get it all done, either.

Anyway, so 20 minutes later, he showed up with his own tools and got to work.  Mind you, this person is always talking about how he is not a "handy" kind of guy.   We knew this, but he said he had his father on speed dial, and his father IS a handy kind of guy!  So, he worked on them for about 2-1/2 hours, and Greg had to leave for radiation.  Our helper ran into town to get some spark plugs and came back.  I'm not sure what he all did, but he was able to get the push mower started!  He was pretty pumped by that, so then went to work on the pressure washer and he was able to get that one started too!  (Again, feeling very manly about this victory!)  Next was my walk-behind trimmer which was a little trickier.  Mind you, I just bought it last year, so it's not like it was old or anything, but it was it's first winter.  After a call to his father, his dad knew exactly what to do, and lo and behold, the trimmer started!  WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Now, if you're wondering who this person was, it was our very own Pastor Will!   Truth be told, he was not exactly at the top of our list of people to help us get these machines started!  And before ya'all get all upset, HE is the one who is always saying he is not a "handy" kind of guy!  Greg is not necessarily a "handy" kind of guy, either when it comes to a lot of stuff, so I'm not being rude here by any stretch of the imagination!   I am much more mechanically inclined than Greg is, and that's OK.  Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.  Apparently, Greg's biggest strength is beating cancer!  And I'm OK with that!   But, Pastor Will is never allowed to say he is not a "handy" kind of guy ever again!  We now know the truth!

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that Pastor Will had to leave and said he'd be back to help get the grass cut.  True to his word, he came back about an hour or so later, with a young man from church and they went to town cutting our lawn!  Mind you, we have 2-1/4 acres, and just about all of it is grass and has to be cut.   Pastor Will hopped on the riding mower and Rudy took over the push mower.   Between the two of them, they got almost all the grass cut for us!    We cannot thank them enough for all their help, and especially Pastor Will for getting our lawn equipment going!  I was so excited that by the time he came back, I had already trimmed all the gigantic burdock that was overtaking our little wooded area that I was desperate to get to!  I think he was a little surprised to come back and see me covered in grass and sweat in my work boots, bandana, shorts & t-shirt!  It was not a pretty site, to be sure!!  LOL

Here's Pastor Will on the riding mower.   He stopped to chat with Greg at one point, and said that cutting our grass gave him a new appreciation for living in town.  I believe his next words were "you have a lot of grass!"  








Our push mower is a "mulching" mower, but we haven't used the bag since we moved up here.  Rudy decided that it would be much faster to open the flap at the back, so he was covered in grass by the time he was done!  You can see it all flying out the back, right at him!  We couldn't convince him not to do that, and he said the grass was no big deal.  He cut the whole front yard with that push mower!  



We are so appreciative of our church family!  All the prayers and help they have given us has truly touched our hearts.    I also received a beautiful basket of geraniums from Pastor Will's family (read:  Pastor Jen!) and a beautiful card reminding me that God loves me and their family loves me, too!  I needed that!  Every time I look at this beautiful basket I am reminded of God's love for me.  

May God's love inspire you and fill your heart with His goodness. 

Julie