Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
In July, just two days after returning from vacation, I developed a lovely little case of Bell's Palsy. Honest to God, I thought I was having a stroke. But the good DR informed me that "it's just Bell's Palsy." I was given a steroid and some antivirals to take for a week and told that it would clear up some time in the next two weeks to 3 month. In the meantime, I can't speak clearly, when I laugh I look like Two-Face from the Batman comic and - that worst of all- I have to drink my coffee through a straw.
In late August I finally found a teaching position. I drive 60 miles one way to work everyday. The school is in a small town that according to the local newspaper is dying. It's a low income predominately minority school. The kids are undisciplined and used to being spanked at home and school regularly. Most of my 1st grade students cannot read and with the new Value Added laws taking effect this year, I am starting out behind the eight-ball. (Yes Ed!! I know what that means.)
Blake has been having serious tummy issues since late January, to the point that he can't eat for days and is in tears. With the family history, we (mainly Ed) pitched a fit until our local Medicaid doctor gave us a referral to a gastro specialist. Blake goes this week for a scope and biopsy to check for an inflammatory bowel disease. They are thinking Crohn's disease.
I am not only teaching full time but also enrolled in a full time Master's program at ULM ( yep, the one that beat Arkansas). There are monthly seminars, weekly assignments, and projects due throughout. There is never time to do anything that needs to be done, as I leave for work at 5:30 am and do not return some nights until 7:00.
And I am supposed reduce the stress in my life to help clear up the Bell's Palsy!!!!
But I am reminded of a little diddy sung by Mr. Bing Crosby:
"You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do just when everything looked so dark?
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do just when everything looked so dark?
You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between"
So the positives
1. My God is greater than Bell's Palsy and is going to heal me in His time.
2. I have a job doing what I love
3. I love the people I work with and for
4. The students are helping me to become more compassionate.
5. Blake is beautiful and amazing
6. His gastro specialist is great and really puts Ed's mind and heart at ease.
7. Next week we will have our answer and know what we are fighting and how to fight.
8. I am getting my Master's so that I can provide the very education for my students
9. I will be able to have holiday's with Blake again.
10. I am NOT dead!! I live to serve the Lord another day
So, while the trials we are going through seem to be many this I know God is working it for my good and I will make it through by HIS grace and mercy and love.
