God's Grace

We stayed home this year for the 4th of July. Neither Dh nor I could face our usual tradition of the 4th in ND. So hard to believe that at this time last year, our son was alive. So we decided to stay home this year. The other kids were sorely disappointed, but we endeavored to make other plans. We had dear friends over and enjoyed shooting off our own fireworks until 10pm. Then Dh and the kids drove a little ways down the road to see our city's fireworks show.

I, believe it or not, was thankful to be sick. Yes. Several of the children and I ended up with variations of some sort of virus. Miss T.T. had thrown up all night a few nights ago while Dh had a queasy stomach with a huge headache. Tuesday night found Drama boy puking at 9pm throughout the rest of the night, followed by Army boy at 4:30am. Then myself and Sweet Stuff woke to queasy tummies and headaches yesterday. Thankfully, it was short-lived. But long enough to put me out of commission all day yesterday. For which, as I said earlier, I was actually very thankful for!

It may sound rather strange, but I feel it was God's grace. His grace to keep me from being pulled out to sea, engulfed and sucked under by waves of grief. I didn't want to drown in the memories from last year, and being sick pretty much took care of that. Call me weird, but it was a much welcome relief to have my mind distracted with being ill. Honestly, I am so glad I was sick. And even more thankful I'm feeling better this morning. ;)

I've also seen God's grace at work on my sciatic nerve. I've had four rounds of acupuncture, a couple chiropractic adjustments, and a massage. After the third acupuncture session, I noticed my toes no longer tingled and my calf no longer felt like the muscle was torn. I could walk without limping for the first time in many weeks. I'd say my pain level is definitely 50-65% less! Thankful for the grace given!