by Sue Gillespie (Grandma Sue)
“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” Wayne Dyer
Over 3 years ago a slow landslide began in my life. My husband lost his job of 14 years. (Hit #1)
We had gone through some financial struggles earlier in our marriage, and I had handled that with fear and anger. This time, I made a firm decision NOT to react that way again….because it didn’t help at all the first time.
I took a job to help with health insurance, and my husband quickly began a new job in sales. But within 9 months, this new company he was with filled bankruptcy. (Hit #2)
After that, we couldn’t stay afloat. Our home went into foreclosure (Hit #3)
Fear and anger were always right around the corner. But I am old enough and have lived through enough trauma to know – deep down – that God isn’t out of control. He isn’t floating around on a cloud up there and suddenly looking down at my life and saying, “OH MYSELF…WHAT’S HAPPENING????” I kept pulling myself back with the belief that even thought it felt like life was out of control – I could trust that God wasn’t.
Someone told me early in my marriage that my husband and I were beginning an adventure. Our adventure. This new phase in our life was a new curve in the path of our adventure.
Several years before my husband lost his job, I had made a “Dream” chart that hung on my bathroom mirror. It had things on there like: pay off our home, sing with a band and go back to school. The “Dream” chart had been on that mirror for many years. It actually felt more like a ‘wishful thinking but don’t count on it’ chart.
Fast forward to today: We lost our home (foreclosure and short sale). It’s not how I HAD IT PLANNED to pay off the debt of our home…but today I carry no debt. I am singing with a band that I just LOVE…classic country music. (Just call me Patsy.) And, when I had plans to start my own business helping people de-clutter and organize their homes…I kept getting encouragment to take classes in a field of natural health that I was very interested in, but never thought I could learn and turn into a career…but it’s happening.
Through it all, I felt like I never knew what was ahead. It was more like I was floating on an inner-tube down a windy river….and I determined to “just kept floating”. (instead of paddling upstream) I didn’t have answers. I didn’t know where I was heading. But – on purpose – I kept telling myself…..’relax’……’float’…..’trust God’!
“God is telling a good story. Nothing will EVER happen that God cannot redeem to move your story along to a glorious finale’! Abandon yourself to THAT God.” The Pressure’s Off, by Larry Crabb.
Sue is a Craniosacral Therapist and Foot Reflexologist
Books available at: www.grandma-sue.com
