Since the beginning of 2011, my family has been in one storm after another.  At least one of us has been sick with a cold or flu for over two months.  It started with me catching a cold over New Year’s weekend, and just as I was starting to feel better my 3 year old son got it, then as soon as he was recovering my husband got it, then the baby, and after that round, I got sick again with fevers and chills. 

I started feeling better and was looking forward to returning to some sense of normalcy when my son woke up with a stomach bug.  We went through four days of him not able to keep even a teaspoon of water down.  After two emergency room trips and then overnight in the hospital on IV’s because of dehydration, he started to recover.  Then the baby woke up one morning with a raging fever (the highest was 103.8) that lasted for 5 days.  She pulled through,  my son was doing better.  It seemed the storms were calming down–not quite.

I had my annual physical exam and a mandatory mammogram (which I wasn’t thrilled about).  My plan was to get it over with and get on with life; however, when I called to get my results I received the news that my scans were “incomplete.”  The radiologist saw something on my scans that required me to go back in for more.  So, I went back in for another mammogram, then an ultra-sound, then another mammogram, and back to ultra-sound with the radiologist. 

There was ten minutes of absolute silence as they were looking at the screen, and I was doing everything I could to stay in a place of peace, trusting in the Lord.  I couldn’t help but think about all the other women who had laid on this table for this same procedure, etc.  Finally, the radiologist explained that the reason they weren’t saying anything was because they weren’t seeing anything.  There was definitely something showing up on the mammogram, but they couldn’t see it on the ultra-sound, so I was scheduled for a biopsy the following day.

The procedure for the biopsy was quite unpleasant.  Laying on a table they injected me with lanocaine; however, they didn’t give me quite enough.  The needle shot into me and when they started to move it around to collect tissue I screamed and jumped off the table.  The nurse literally held me down and said, “Just scream; don’t move.”  Yeah, right!  They gave me more medication, and I made it through the rest of the procedure a bit shaken. 

The following day I was staring at my phone waiting for the call with the results.  I even called the nurse line twice during the late afternoon to see if the results came in.  It was a Friday, and I really didn’t want to go through the entire weekend not knowing.  Then at 5:15 p.m., I got the call from my doctor.  Benign.

Whew!

You’d think we could get back to normal; however, my son is fighting another cold.  Fevers.  Sore throat.  Not eating.  Sigh…

As I was doing my daily Bible reading, I came across this verse, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you His peace at all times and in every situation.  The Lord be with you all.”  2 Thess 3:16

I’m feeling pretty battered and bruised now, but I’m still standing on the Rock.  God never promised that the storms of life would pass us by, but He encouraged us to build our house on the Rock, so that when the storms hit we would continue to stand.

Bruce and I were talking last night, and he was saying that if we can’t handle this storm, how are we going to handle living in Israel and bombs exploding around us potentially.  This a recent political cartoon that was published a couple of weeks ago that describes the climate in the Middle East:

As God protects Israel, who is the apple of His eye, may we remain safe in His care.

“Guard me as you would guard your own eyes.  Hide me in the shadow of your wings.”  Ps 17:8