Giving God the Glory in Hard Times

Some good friends of our family are going through a rough time right now. We love this family that we met through our daughter's swim team. They have 3 daughters, ages 8, 4 and 6 months. The month of April has not been kind to them. At the beginning of the month, the husband was laid off from his job. Then a little over a week ago the wife's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after a hysterectomy and removal of a fast growing tumor on the ovary. While her mother was in the hospital, the nurse walked in the room to find her father passed out on the floor due to high blood pressure. In addition to all the stress they're experiencing, the wife's cousin and his new bride are coming to the US from Thailand for their honeymoon. As is custom for their culture, the newlyweds will be staying at our friends' house for 1 1/2 weeks (they arrived today). This may not sound too bad, that is until you know that they live in a very small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house. Then, just when they thought they couldn't handle anymore, last night their 2 dogs ran out of the house when their middle daughter left the door open and they were both hit by a car when they ran into the street. All of this happened in front of their 4 year-old daughter. One of the dogs died within minutes and the other one was taken to the pet ER, where he should recover after a lot of medical treatment and a very large bill. The oldest daughter has taken this very hard. We had the girls come to our house immediately after the accident so they could swim with our girls and play to try to keep their minds off of what had happened. The oldest daughter spent the night, which was a good thing so she didn't have to immediately return to her home without the dogs there. We ask for prayer for them as tomorrow they will get the results from her mother's surgery which will tell them how much the cancer has spread and what stage she is at.

So, what do you say to someone that is going through one hard thing after another? As I drove my friend to the pet ER last night to meet up with her husband, she shared that she just couldn't take anymore. I ached for her as she cried. It's so hard to assure someone that God is walking with them through this when the pressure just doesn't seem to let up. It took me back to the time 5 years ago when John underwent major spine surgery after being hit by a drunk driver. Just 8 days before his delicate, life changing surgery, I underwent surgery to try to avoid a hysterectomy. I was still recuperating as John went in for a surgery that had a fairly good risk of him coming out paralyzed (praise God he isn't). Then, just after he was home from the hospital, fires swept through Claremont and many other surrounding areas. At one point we had 12 evacuated people and all of their pets staying at our house. Immediately after that, I had the complete hysterectomy that I was praying to avoid. It was so hard to imagine at that time what God was doing. How was He going to use that to bring Him glory??? It took some time, but we slowly began to see God's purpose. I would never want to relive that period of time, but I'm content that it happened. It resulted in us growing much closer together as a family and strengthening our relationship with God. Although John still keeps a busy schedule, it really slowed down our pace of life so that we actually quit just going through the motions of life and really started living. John was home from work for 14months, which allowed him to be there for Kiley everyday after school while she was in kindergarten. We wish John wasn't left with lifelong pain, but that pain is a reminder of how far he's come. Just like the Apostle Paul, it also is a reminder to him to rely on God. There was a time that the physical therapists at Casa Colina said that he would never return to work, but he proved them wrong. God walked with us through every inch of that difficult time and He DID use it to bring Him GLORY! Last night I assured my fried that God IS with her and He WILL work all this for His good. So, as hard as it is, in all circumstances, Give God the glory!