Hello my treasured and amazing friends, you have been in my thoughts and prayers, and I hope you are well. There is much to be grateful for today, as I hope you feel the same way, even though it can be so easy to dwell on the negative. It is amazing how we have the ability to extract some kind of gratitude out of very challenging and sometimes sad situations, if we choose to look for even a glimmer of hope. If we only look at our situations on a surface level, and do not choose to look at the bigger picture, it can cause us to see what didn't go well and internalize the effects that can come along with it. If we look broader, and not through a limited scope, it gives us the opportunity to "see" the forest through the trees."
I looked up this saying further, because I wanted to understand it better. When we "see" the forest for the trees, it gives us an ability to discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; which helps us to see the big picture, or the broader, more general situation. When we "cannot see" the forest for the trees, it means we do not understand or appreciate a larger situation, problem etc., because one is considering only a few parts of it. The focus is too much on the details. (thank you Merriam-Webster, wiktionary, and grammarist) I will explain this further by a few situations I experienced this week.
Last Sunday, which was the day before I published my previous post, I was in an auto accident with my husband and sister. I had already known what I wanted to write on, so I did not mention it and I stayed the course. Sitting on it for a week or so has helped me to better understand the larger picture. I could look at it as, how could this happen to us? The car we were driving in is totaled! My husbands hand is broken and now he has to wear a cast! My sister is dealing with discomfort and I cut my lip. We all experienced some form of trauma and pain, but was it all for nothing?! No, I do not believe it was.
I felt very strongly in my spirit, it was a HUGE WARNING for many! Just a few minutes before we got into the four car pileup, Mike asked his sister to pull up maps on her cell and see our ETA. He could have easily done it himself. Because he asked her, I began to research it on my phone as well. We were in traffic on a steep pass in San Bernardino County, California which has an elevation of 3,777 ft. The long stretch of freeway runs through the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains and is called the Cajon Pass. There were quite a few cars on the pass that Sunday and we were in the fast lane going south. As we were approximately half way down the grade, the cars suddenly began to break. Because Mike was paying attention and not looking at maps on his phone himself or being distracted, he was able to break in time, but the person behind us never saw it all happening and slammed straight in to the back of our car, which pushed us into the car in front of us. The car in front of us hit the first car in the pileup. In a split second all the airbags deployed and we were all completely stunned and dazed. Mike was the only one not looking at his phone and had a second to try and react. Mikes sister and I were on our phones so we were even more dazed and confused with sudden airbags everywhere as we came to a sudden halt. Traffic came to a stop, we all managed to exit the car with some help, and the people who were involved in the accident began to commune next to the fast lane between northbound, and southbound traffic. It was a bit of a fiasco and emergency crews couldn't get to all of us for approximately 35 minutes. As you can probably tell, it is not an ideal place to get into any kind of trouble. As the minutes ticked, Mikes hand was swelling up quite a bit.
(X-ray showing a small break above Mikes lower thumb joint)
(This X-ray shows a fracture at the wrist)
As I look at the broader picture of it all and see the forest for the trees, It makes me realize these things can happen for a reason. Sometimes out of trying situations we come to new realizations. The Volvo was totaled but everyone in all four cars walked away from the accident. Had Mike been distracted on his phone for just one second before the pileup, the outcome could have turned out very different for us and the people around us. Every time we all look at the cast on his broken wrist, or feel any residual ache in our body, we realize that being distracted on your phone can cause serious issues and damage. As people drove by us and witnessed the pile up, I can only imagine what they were thinking. "That could have been me!" or "I better pay more attention while I'm driving!" I look back now and realized that periodically I had my right leg up on the dashboard throughout the 7 hour ride back from Mammoth. If I had my foot up on the dashboard, when the airbags suddenly diploid, I might not have walked away. Had we not had our seatbelts on, we might not be here today. There is much to learn from trying times and much growth that can come of it.
Do I think The Lord played a part in all that did, and didn't happen to us, YES!
(And that's an airbag doing it's job!)
As I think back I came come up with at least 8 things God did to make this accident less severe and as pain free as possible. One thing in particular was both Mike and his sister made doctors appointments for the day after the accident, weeks to months prior to the day the accident occurred. How is this possible...Only God! This allowed their doctors to be able to check each one out thoroughly. This was good because they both experienced more pain than I did and it allowed Mike to have a cast on his painful wrist within 3 days. We were also in amazement when Mikes sisters best friends, who were also in Mammoth, were only 10 minutes away from where we got towed to in Hesperia, when she called to inform them of what happened. This allowed her friends to load up the back of their truck with the full contents of her SUV, and take the items down the hill to the same city they all lived in. The car was not drivable and had to stay at the wrecking yard in Hesperia, which was almost 2 hours away from her home. It goes on and on, how I see the Lord made this tough situation as comfortable as he could.
Challenges can make you appreciate life more and can help you to reevaluate, draw closer to God, and see things clearer. So please drive SAFE, and don't forget to tell people you LOVE and APPRECIATE them OFTEN! I am also reminded of remembering to say these things, because this week we lost a family member named Greg, who loved to laugh and had the ability to cry at the drop of a hat. He loved deeply and cared much. He would be there for you in a second if you needed him. We will all miss him dearly, but know he has joined Jesus up in Heaven and is loving life in his heavenly mansion. He is probably on a special building assignment, or in a grand kitchen making some kind of a scrumptious meal, or perhaps in a beautiful garden up in heaven harvesting delicious fruit, which he loved to do in his backyard. We will all miss you Greg, rest in peace.
With all that said, today is a new day and I am happy to be physically and mentally able to post Part 4 in The Power Of Change (TPOC) called Break The Cycle That Is Breaking Your Life. To access it, click on the link below when you are interested in listening to it.
If you are still trying to catch up, don't fret, just pick it up when you have a free moment. We just listened to part 3 and thought it was incredible. It is all building on one another, so just carve out sometime to check out this lifechanging series by Craig Groeschel. Each episode is only 35 minutes each. This series gives you powerful tools that can catapult you to the next level :) Here are parts 1-4 of The Power Of Change, to make it easy for you :)
We can look at some breaks as being good and some as being not so good. Mikes break in his wrist seems bad, but it will now remind us all to drive as safe as we can, to not be distracted with texting or other things while driving, to be clear minded, and to be grateful for every day you get to be productive and live life. Maybe it will now prevent an even worse accident from happening in the future. Taking a break and not allowing stress to overwhelm you, is good. Implementing boundaries, and having a good work life balance is best! Sowing good seed into your life will help you reach your goal. Be encouraged to keep moving in the right direction and don't take a break from moving forward in your life. One step in the right direction will lead to the next step, which will get you closer to where you want to be. Pray, it works! God will come through for you.
Pastor Craig says we should act like a cow when we are consuming the word of God. Begin by ruminating on it, then chew on it, digest it, then bring it back up, ruminate on it again, chew some more, and repeat the process like a cow does several times as they consume their food. We need to feed our souls frequently, and if we digest the word of God like a cow eats it's food, we will be so familiar with it, it will be part of who we are, and we can bring it to the surface anytime we want to. It has just the right ingredients to nourish our body and soul.
As I was reading this draft to my daughter in law Norissa and my granddaughter, they thought the cow analogy was a little gross so Joelle "JoJo" my grandaughter informed us of a more attractive analogy of bee's and the making of honey. What a treat it is to have JoJo by my side helping to further explain this analogy.
In Jojo's word's "Bee's take in pollen and digest it. Bee's later regurgitate the digested pollen, which will later be consumed and digested again by other bee's who will process the mixture and turn it into honey. Through additional processes, the honey can be made into Royal Jelly which will feed future queens." As JoJo informed me of this process, it made me think of what happens when we consume the word of God and digest it. In Jojo's words, "when the word of God is consumed and digested, it can be spread to others, who will then grow in knowledge and process it themselves, which will allow others to flourish as well."
What a blessing it was to have JoJo be a part of adding to this blog.
Norissa added that the word of God will lead you to The Land of Milk and Honey. What a blessing it was for them to contribute to this post. I loved having them be my first special contributors.
What we put in will eventually come out. This is explained in the scripture Romans 8:5-6
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Matthew 12:34
...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
May your week be fruitful and blessed. Make the best of each day and choose joy!
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Have an amazingly blessed and enjoyable week,
Big hugs,
Jen
Love this Jen!!! Keep filling me up! Xoxo Melia