Surviving One Bad Year

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Cor. 1:3,4.

“Only one bad year?” you say. “I’ve had about ten!”

Sometimes it seems that way. Life just happens. One minute you’re sailing through life when all of a sudden, from out of nowhere, a giant wave capsizes your safe existence—and life is never the same again. We know we have to keep going, but how?

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Years ago, there was a much-admired elderly woman in our community by the name of Mrs. Cooksey. A friend asked her the secret of her exemplary life. She looked up, a little twinkle in her eyes and gave this one-word answer:  “Trouble!”

My most difficult year was nine years ago when I found myself in the excruciating place of helping my daughter relinquish her baby for adoption. It was a crisis pregnancy, and my daughter did not feel ready to parent. There were moments I did not think I could bear it and was not sure we were doing the right thing. And yet two years later as I read through my journal, I was amazed to see how God had kept us all and redeemed the situation in spite of ourselves. Out of our own hard year, I wrote, “Surviving One Bad Year—7 Spiritual Strategies to Lead You to a New Beginning.”

As I began to talk with others and heard their stories I realized there are different kinds of losses:  Some are life-altering; some are irrevocable; some gradual; and some are difficult to define, such as the death of a dream. Some losses are more traumatic and life-altering, but loss is loss. Trouble is trouble.  Pain is pain.

I have learned along the way how important it is not to get stuck in our pain and our loss and to become defined by it. There is a time to grieve, but there’s also a time to let go. Life can be good again, and we can take actual steps that will help facilitate healing.

This journey we are on CAN take us somewhere: to be more and more filled with the love of God and compassion for others. The power of applying God’s Word to our situation; reaching out to others; trusting no matter what, were some important steps that helped us.  

I love this quote by an unknown author:

There is no permanent calamity for any child of God;
Way stations all, at which we briefly stop
Upon our homeward road.
Our pain and grief are only travel stains which shall be wiped away,
Within the blessed warmth and light of home,
By God’s own hand, some day.

 

Nancie Carmichael is a speaker and author of several books, including, “Lord, Bless My Child” (with her husband, Bill);“Selah—Time to Stop, Think, and Step into Your Future” and “Surviving One Bad Year—Seven Spiritual Strategies to Lead You to a New Beginning”

Nancie and Bill are parents to five married children and grandparents of ten children and this time of year, Saturdays will find them watching the Oregon Ducks play football.

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Surviving One Bad Year
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