This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great
calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised
them.
Jeremiah 32:42
We recently bought a walker that converts
into a wheelchair for my daughter. While she is not at a point where she needs
to use it every day, she is having a difficult time walking long distances. On bad
days, she has been forced to miss out, because she has been physically unable
to get around reliably. The walker gives her the freedom and confidence to join
in activities regardless of how she is feeling.
The first day she needed to use it was to
help her manage several long walks from parking lots to fields to watch her son
and nephews play in their first sports games of the season. My husband and
I met her for her son’s baseball game. It was the third game of the day. We
were tired; she was exhausted. We found her sitting alone at the top of the
parking lot struggling to hold back her tears. Fatigue, grief and frustration
had overwhelmed her as she sat with such a visible reminder of the things she
had lost.
At 32 years old, she has had more than her
share of calamity: a rare disease diagnosis at the age of 25, a failed bypass
surgery to her brain, adrenal and thyroid failure, and a post-surgical
complication that left her with a chronic infection. Seeing past the calamity
in my daughter’s life to the prosperity in her life can be challenging on her
best days. Keeping my anger at her situation from clouding my certainty that
God has only her best interests at heart has been a day-to-day faith struggle.
As I held my daughter in my arms that day while
she railed against all that was happening to her body, I felt my anger winning.
Eventually she settled down and we made our way to her son’s field. It was a
hot day. Excessive heat can be challenging for my daughter on a good day; when
she already is depleted, it can trigger a transient ischemic attack (mini
stroke). We were three innings into a six-inning game at the hour and 30-minute
mark. My grandson son had stolen his way to a home run on his first time at bat.
He struck out for his second at bat. His team was down by one run. My daughter
was struggling to sit up and stay awake. It was clear physically that she needed
to leave, but she refused to let us take her home. She did not want to
miss his first game.
I could not imagine that she could last
another hour and half in the heat. As I fretted about the situation, her son’s
team made a home run tying the game. The next batter stepped up to the plate, and
I felt a few sprinkles. A few minutes later, the skies opened and a thunderclap
ended the game early. My grandson came running out of the dugout with a big
smile on his face heading straight for the concession stand. My daughter was
smiling, grateful she had been able to make it through his first game of the
season. My heart lifted; my anger shifted. A short time later the storm clouds
cleared to a magnificent rainbow.
On a day where I was struggling to reconcile
a loving God “bringing” pain, it was not lost on me that prosperity showed up
in the shape of a storm.
.PNG)
