God is Good. All the Time.

Lot's has been happening.
It all started on Saturday. It was fairly good weather so I went for a run. I love running. Anyways, I got back and was walking up the front walk to see Dad arguing with my Grandma. He wanted her to get some sun since the weather was nice, and she didn't. She was bickering and wanting to go back inside, so I just walked up and took her hand and helped her down the steps. She forgot all about her bickering and walked with me. She walked up to the car and wanted to get in. We stopped and she said, "you don't have the keys?" Taking the obvious hint, I helped her in and buckled her in then took her for a little drive. It was a sweet little drive, she seemed to enjoy it. She started to doze off, a little, too. I thought it was a pleasant moment with my old granny who's usually cantankerous and argumentative. Then, that night, BFF's Grandma (Mother's mother) had a stroke. This was terrifying news. BFF and family were getting ready to travel North to visit Grandma on Sunday. I was praying, mostly in the Spirit. I felt restless and unsettled. I drank three cups of coffee and was wired until 2 o'clock. So I stayed up and watched What About Bob and King Kong. Sunday BFF and family left later than they had hoped and all day my thoughts were on them. I went to go see The Three Musketeers. It was a pretty awesome movie. It drove me crazy that they all didn't have the proper accents. But, oh well.

Sunday night I was becoming anxious for Buddy and her traveling band. It was late and was looking like they wouldn't arrive till about 4 in the morning. Buddy called be around 10 my time, 1 her time, for a little chat which put me at ease. It is hard for me to see/hear Buddy and her family go through this and not be able to be there with her. But I know God can comfort them far more than I can. I was uplifting her all day through texts, sending her Bible verses and encouragement. The Lord was sustaining her through their travels. She was a trooper and drove all the way into the night, arriving at 5 in the morning. Praise the Lord for safety.
Monday she went to see her Grandma in the hospital, I didn't get to talk to her until Monday night. Poor Buddy sounded so worn out and I know that her whole family is going through the same thing. My prayers remain with them in this troubling time.

In the meantime my own Grandma had been having troubles of her own. She had been falling down way more than normal, which results in cuts and bruises since she has extremely fragile skin, it rips easily. Things were getting out of hand, she was hurting herself way too much. We were thinking we might have to get her a wheelchair with restraints, since that's what they would do in a hospital/home. Well, Monday night Grandma had a mild stroke. It was the middle of the night, so I don't think we realized it until morning. Her whole left side was limp. Her left arm was just hanging there. It was so strange and unnerving to see it. Tuesday we decided to take her in to the Dr's office who confirmed that it was a mild stroke and that she should regain use of her arm and leg. Tuesday was also the day my dad got sick. Our business suffers slightly when we aren't all up and running at top peak. So we got Grandma home and we weren't sure what on Earth to do. She couldn't get up on her own, we had to walk her everywhere she went. She couldn't feed herself, we were dumbfounded.

All through this my body has felt drained of energy, I've abandoned my routine, I've scrimped by on chores, Tina and I have barely done P90X. I've been praying almost constantly but I haven't been reading my Bible--though I've been sending Buddy scriptures and encouragement.
I realized, if I don't fill myself up with God, explicitly, I will be doomed. I've been trying to lift Buddy and her family up in prayer and encouragement but have I been taking care of myself? This stuff with Buddy's Grandma, and then my own Grandma, plus stress at work and fatigue, it was all weighing down on me. This morning (Wednesday) I woke up and I said, "enough. Put God first, then everything else will fall into place." I'm going to put myself back into a routine, I'm going to fill myself up with the Word, because without it I'll dry up like a sponge without water. I will not be able to go through these trying times without the Word. How can I be strong for Buddy, for my own family, if I'm weak in the faith? In my weakness, He is made strong.

Buddy said she told her Gran, who's been asleep, that if she wanted to wake up, she could have faith. That got me thinking on my own Gran. I drove her home from the Dr's and I said, "Grandma, it's not too late, you know. You could have faith, you could be healed." I just sat there talking to her like that for a few minutes. I remember I used to read healing verses to her, I used to have her read them out loud, she seemed to like it sometimes. But once I suggested she could read them and she said, "I don't WANT to read them!" So I said, "fine!" I didn't want to push anything on her, but I wish she would have kept with it.
Either way, this is a whole new phase of Grandma. She stays in her chair all day, now, we feed her there, we give her drinks there. We have to pick her up and set her on the toilet when she needs to use the toilet. Only by God's grace will we survive this.
I'd like to mention that, even through all of this, last month we went out with a bang in sales for our company! I was praising God while tallying up the numbers. He's been faithful to our little business throughout the time and I thank Him that He's continued to provide for us.

All in all, I still say that God is good. These are fiery trials, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with FIRE, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" 1 Peter 1:7.
No one said this would be easy. Jesus's burden is light, yes, but that's because we learn to put our burdens on Him. We wouldn't be able to survive any other way. It's hard to make the choice to walk by faith, and not by sight, to run to the tower where we will be safe. But once there, God keeps us in His loving protection. He will never leave us nor forsake us.