He didn’t mean to eavesdrop but from his seat in the hotel Jacuzzi pool it was hard not to over hear the deep conversation between a man and his wife.
He heard the man telling his wife of his fears about a fairly major surgery he was scheduled to undergo the following week.
Jack Kralik, author of “365 Thank Yous” recounts this tale in the book. As he listened he quickly realized the surgery this young man was talking about with his wife was the same surgery he had undergone some ten years before.
He didn’t usually enter into conversations with other people in these kinds of settings but on this night he did and two things happened.
First, as he described his life prior to the surgery and following the surgery to the man and his wife he could actually see a sense of relief coming over the man. Kralik told of his daily pain and inability to sleep lying down. The man could relate. Kralik then told of the results of his surgery and the great relief that he now has and his ability to lead a fairly normal life. In those few moments of an overheard conversation Jack provided hope to a very scared man and his wife.
Secondly, Jack had an epiphany for himself. Since his surgery ten years prior he felt he was never the same physically. As he retold the story he began to realize just how miserable he had been prior to the surgery and how much better he actually was as a result of it. Where once he had woken up in pain every morning that pain had been relieved by the surgery.
A new sense of gratitude came over Kralik as he realized what the past ten years had provided him compared to what those years could have been like. He had taken his good health for granted.
The challenges we face in life are often opportunities for us to have an impact on others if we are willing to tell our story. We don’t have to tell our story to everyone but we need to be open for those times when we’re sitting in a Jacuzzi and we overhear something where we can bring hope!
What are the crashes in your life that could bring hope to others? Do you have the courage to see opportunities in those crashes?
Romans 5:3-5
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
This post originally ran on July 14, 2014.
