If you’ve read my blog with any regularity you know that my wife and I had a crisis time in our lives back in 2010-2012.
Over the course of 13 months we both lost our jobs and had to sell our home at the bottom of the market during the recession because we had no money left for payments. In our mid-50s we had no money, no jobs, and no place to live. Needless to say it was a crisis time in our lives.
This challenging time in our lives led us to move from the Minneapolis area to a small town in west central Minnesota. In hindsight, we can see the hand of God leading us through that journey. The main reason we located to this area was to be closer to our adult children. Our oldest daughter and her husband along with their one child at the time lived in this small town. Our youngest daughter lived in Fargo, about an hour away.
Fast forward to February of 2018. Our fourth grandchild, Theo, was born. Before he was born he was diagnosed with a heart condition that would require surgery within days of his birth. His first surgery came three days after his birth. His second, open-heart-surgery, was done when he was six-months old.
For our daughter and son-in-law this was a crisis in their lives. Because of his heart condition our grandson was born at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. This meant that their 3 other little ones needed to be cared for while mom and dad would be spending considerable time in Minneapolis. Along with our son-in-laws parents we were able to be here to assist in that caretaking and providing some semblance of normalcy for our other three grandchildren.
Because my wife and I went through our crisis time in 2010-12 we were in a position to help our kids and grandkids. Had we not lost our jobs, mostly likely, we would have stayed in the Minneapolis area and not have been in a position to provide the kind of help we could in living where they live. This wasn’t the first time the value of our crisis was evident but it was the most obvious.
This doesn’t mean we’re glad we went through what we did or want it to happen again. It was one of the hardest times in our lives. It does mean, however, that difficult times create new opportunities. They shape us for the better if we are willing to see the value in the crisis. It takes courage to step back from the crisis and see the opportunity.
Fast-forward again to last week. Our 36 year-old-daughter, Sara, Theo’s mom, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Crisis strikes again. Currently, the diagnosis is stage 2 but no scans have been done yet. That happens this week. Certainly our prayer is that it hasn’t spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes. Those results will be known later this week.
Again, my wife and I are right here, where they live, to be able to provide the kind of support that is needed during these crisis times that have struck this family again. If we don’t go through our crisis in 2010-2012, again, we likely aren’t here. This may sound crazy to some of you but we are grateful for what we went through ten years ago so we can be here for our family today.
I don’t get overtly spiritual in my blog posts but for today, I’m going to change that. My relationship to Jesus Christ and my Christian faith have shaped this mindset of seeing the value in crisis.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Good in all things is a difficult concept to grasp. Losing our jobs and our home was not good. Theo’s heart condition was, and is, not good. Sara’s breast cancer is not good. We aren’t approaching this newest crisis with a Pollyanna view of God. We are praying for complete physical healing for Sara but know the outcome of cancer can be death. Even writing those words is hard. As a Christian, however, we know that God will use these crises to change us for the better, to help us grow, and, the prayer of all of us, to help others see the power of God in the lives of those who follow Him, even in the worst case scenario.
We are living in very difficult times. We have a worldwide pandemic. People have lost their jobs, their businesses and their lives. Our country seems to be teetering on the brink of total failure and chaos seems in control. These are crisis times for all of us. Yet, I believe, that even in these unprecedented times, God is working and good will come out of this if we are willing to step back and look for it.
My business of speaking on fear and courage was developed because of my crisis a decade ago. This blog exists because of that crisis. It took a while for me to recognize the value of that crisis but, today, I am grateful for that crisis and truly believe that God is using that time that wasn’t good for good.
My prayer is that you have the courage to step back from whatever crisis you may be facing and recognize the good that has already happened, and will happen, because of that challenge.
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS Day!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? I’d love to be that guy. You can reach me at dave@cultivatecourage.com or 952-200-7499.
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