Hope in a New Week

It's always nice to be at the very beginning of a new week--you feel full of optimism and promise...and hope for better days ahead...and hopefully this week will be better than the last two have been. We visited Mom and Dad in Chicago. Mom made it through her second surgery where they fused her vertebrae and put pins and such in her neck. She is in an amazing amount of pain and will have a long recovery period. Dad is trying to stay upbeat, but stress and fatigue are wearing him down a bit, of course. The kids were a bright spot to them, and we're so thankful we could be with them for a few days. Car accidents happen so quickly. Life can be snuffed out so fast. "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." (James 4:14) Mom never knew a piece of metal would come whirling at her through the windshield and hit her in neck. There was nothing Dad could do...no where to swerve out of his lane--it all happened so quickly. Cars on both sides of them were unscratched. They were the ones to experience the trauma of it all. But...praise the Lord they are both alive! Mom missed her life being cut short by mere millimeters. Praise the Lord for good doctors, medicine, and medical technology! Praise Him that it was close enough to home so that we can be with them as much as possible! Praise the Lord for insurance! It's hard to understand why things happen sometimes, but we are praising the Lord and thanking Him (yes, even Mom is) for his mercy and strength in this. Perhaps some day we will understand His purpose in all of this, but today we just rest in His strength and trust Him. "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)