Matt.
6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what
things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
***
January – It began, knowing full
well I had to find a dentist, I had the money to cover the FULL bill, and was
helped immensely by friends, with love and monetarily, in getting vitamins and
herbs to aid with my deteriorating body. Thank you friends!
Steven, after being blind for three
years, had his one eye restored in October, via a cornea transplant, and my
body was not acting right by November. It was as if God was saying to me, “Now
it’s your turn.” I’m okay with that.
February – The dentist appointment
arrived, but it was only to go over the much- needed work I needed to have
done. I think this is when an eye infection hit Steven, and many trips to Omaha
were adding more pressure on my back pain rendering me practically unable to
walk.
March and April – whizzed by in a
flash. Trips to Omaha (they’re 6 hour drives at the least.) Trips to the
dentist and Easter were fast approaching. I had a birthday squeezed in there
somewhere. It’s a little foggy. (must be old age creeping in)
May- June – Found us in the garden
growing pumpkins and tending flowers that were starting to grow. I found myself
with many back issues haunting me and more dental visits were creeping along,
slowly stealing my sanity. May was also the year my niece graduated so once
again, another family function to attend.
Keep in mind, I love his family
very much, miss my family, which I haven’t seen in six years, and surely was
not feeling like a social butterfly. I wanted to crawl in my shell and just be
left alone there. It was not to be. I embraced each function, continued going
to Church, and my days were like ships out at sea, sometimes calm, cool and relaxing,
while others were raging storms.
July – A very strange month for me.
This is the month I felt a darkness crawling into the house like a thick fog.
It hovered over the house mid-month so I sought the only refuge I knew, my
church family. The one minister we visited with took things I said and turned
it into a ‘me’ issue. Not realizing that evil is a sorely shunned issue. It
hung like a wet blanket over my days, trying to smother me and I turned to what
I know best, prayer and meditation. The Light is a much better trustworthy
companion when fighting the dark. Yes I’m weird and strange, but I know there
is only one way to fight a darkly lit room, and that is by turning on the
LIGHT!
August – Another very hot month and
having not a drop of rain was depressing. Farmers were hurting, flowers were
struggling, pumpkins were growing, and Steven was getting antsy behind the
keyboard and wanting to renew his license. He had gotten glasses, and was now
ready to take the next step, getting his license restored; taken away when he
went blind, his sight now restored meant a license to drive once again.
He took the test and failed the
first time, the second time, but the third time, he passed. With a forty-mile
driving range restriction, he was now a functional man once again.
My back pain was still there like a
throbbing sore thumb, but I plowed ahead in Joni fashion and took each day as
it came.
September – Ah September, the month
I found my writing again, forged ahead, forgiving old hurts, and reconnecting with
old friends I thought were gone out of my life. Restrictions were placed on the
class I took, but I didn’t let it shape my renewal of writing. I was not going
to allow the same people, who attacked me a year earlier, to dry up my love of
writing once again and the six-week course went forward, I accomplished my goal
and was writing once again.
During this time, Steven was
job-hunting effortlessly. He would take anything that got him out of the house
and made to feel like a part of society once again.
WalMart accepted him and he was
happily in the work force once again!
October- November – With sore legs
and back Steven worked his 30-hour workweek and the hours in the chill were
settling into him. He was/is happy. A shopoholics dream; a job at WalMart! lol
Me, my pain soared me through these
last months of the year. I was happy if he was happy and that is all that
matters.
Not being a lover of family,
WalMart insist its workers work on National Holidays. My Thanksgiving was spent
at home, with Adam and I embracing the day and making it a day of Christmas
decorating to surprise Steven after a long hard day at work.
Sure everyone told me of their many
off day Thanksgiving celebrations, and working on T-day, but this was MY very
first T-day without a Turkey day celebration.
December – Well this month was not
without its turmoil. In Joni-fashion, it was full of drama. The month of
November ended with an eye infection for Steven, but this time it was his bad
eye. We really didn’t think anything could happen in that eye but Dec. proved
to be a trying and challenging month for us both. The infection was too severe
for treatment and we were told the eye had to be removed. A lot of confusion
with all of that, I can tell you that much. But four trips to Omaha in two
weeks, one week of missed work (thank you WalMart for understanding), and a lot
of emotions were running wild. My back responded with rendering me unable to
really lift my right leg, leaving me crippled and rendered me almost incapable
of shuffling across the floor, dragging my leg behind. All my shopping had to
be done online and I missed the stores for the holidays (and who says there
isn’t a God?) lol I’m the opposite of Steven in that matter, I hate shopping,
hate, hate, hate it!
Steven was back to work after his
operation and week off, and the holiday was spent at his brother’s house.
Steven had to work Christmas eve, and 8 in the morning the day after Christmas,
but he did it.
Me, I’m still wobbly and fighting
tooth and nail to be able to walk normal again.
Allow me to have a bragging moment.
Adam has been GREAT through all of this. I don’t know about you, but how many
boys do you know that would do the vacuuming, and dishes and dusting and stuff,
when they knew their mother couldn’t? Mine did, and more! Shoveling snow,
putting groceries away, taking care of things I couldn’t! I can honestly say,
I’m a pretty proud mom.
You might read this and think,
“Wow, that wasn’t a good year.” Or you might say, “Mine was worse than THAT!”
But can you say, “I’ve had a year of blessings layered throughout my bad year?”
Well I can. Sure I could see this as not a ‘good’ year per se, but know, there
have been too many God given blessings for me to say it was a bad year.
In a year where I needed more money
than I had, all was provided for. No matter what my need for any given month,
God saw to it that my needs were met. He may have used YOU, or YOU, or any
number of people to fulfill the needs in my life, but know, my year was a
blessing filled year, and not one day has gone by that I haven’t noticed God’s
presence in my life.
While all around me people’s lives
were torn apart, storms took lives, weather took your crops, insane men were
driven mad and took lives; my life has been full and richly rewarded. I’m a
living testament to Christ, and without Him in my life and my focus on Him and
not me me me, left me spiritually full, richly blessed, and another great year
to be alive.
Whomever it is you believe in, just
know, YOU are blessed to be alive in these times.
God bless you all!
