A couple of weeks ago I attended a women's conference at my church. The theme was "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain". The thought of dancing in the rain makes me smile...it brings to mind images of childhood and fun. The conference was great and my only disappointment was that I wasn't able to go to more of the mini-classes they offered. I think that we probably all need a little help in learning how to stay positive in difficult, or negative, times. But I'll get back to that later.
Last Saturday, while on a campout with the boys, Ben had to replace a belt and the radiator in the Jeep on the beach! It was definitely an unexpected expense. Luckily, he had some very helpful men with him and we only had to pay for parts, not labor. (Although, I probably owe them all some cookies.) He got the Jeep home, but there are still issues and it is parked in the garage for the time being. This means that he has to use the Toyota, which would not normally be an issue since I'm home all day. Except it's been raining all week, Ben has physical therapy twice a week, we've been fighting a stomach bug off and on for almost two weeks, and Alex had to have lab work done (fasting, early morning lab work). There has been a lot of driving back and forth! I'm frazzled and have found myself shutting down, not wanting to do anything once Ben and the kids are out the door. This morning as I was running the kids into school late, I made a comment about wearing flip-flops in a rainstorm. Then it struck me how well that sums up my current feelings about life.
Ben didn't care for the thought when I shared it with him. He pointed out that our life isn't really THAT bad right now, and it's not. That's not quite what I meant. What I meant is that I don't currently feel properly equipped to deal with my life (or what's happening IN my life, to be more accurate). But, we equip ourselves. I chose to wear those flip-flops when I knew that it was raining. I have shoes, but it was faster and easier to just slip on the flip-flops. We were running late. I didn't want to get my tennis shoes wet. These are excuses; I had a choice to make and I made it.
So, back to the conference and the dancing in the rain. It's currently raining on our house (literally and figuratively). This is not a bad storm we're weathering...we've been through worse. Others have been, or are going through, MUCH worse. My thought is...How often do we simply grumble about the rain instead of equipping ourselves to face it? There is no "storm" that can't be weathered by relying on our faith. We have a Savior who has felt each and every one of our pains and heartaches. He knows what we're going through and He wants to help us! By using the equipment we've been given, namely prayer and the scriptures, we can be comforted during the worst.
