Home sweet home

We are home from Branson. Ahh....home sweet home. Another post to follow with fun vacation pictures.

One of my summer projects was to clean and reorganize the closets. I haven't made it to all of them yet (might want to hurry on that...only ten more days until I start the dreaded back-to-school meetings -- meetings make me want to gouge my eyes out, there's no way I could be a cubicle dweller...oh well, this run on sentence could be it's own post at a later date).

Anyway. While cleaning the junk closet in the toy room, I came across some fun stuff. Namely souvenirs and maps from vacations that I've been keeping for scrapbooking. A sewing machine that I don't know how to use. Old pictures. My backpack.

And my old travel journals.

Five years ago this time, I was wrapping up my summer of study in Queretaro, Mexico. Due to many outside circumstances, it was the worst summer of my life. My grandma Gourley (who Madeline is named after) passed away while I was there, Montezuma had his revenge on me to an extent I didn't know was possible, I had a painful mystery leg cramp the whole time I was there, and I felt terribly alone.

For those of you that know the story, the mystery leg cramp was actually a massive blood clot that started near my ankle and ended at my groin. I walked all around Mexico for three weeks with it growing in my leg. It probably should have caused a stroke or pulmonary embolism killed me. But God was GOOD. So good. I made it home and at the urging of my mom (she drove me herself) went to the doctor, did an ultrasound of my leg and was sent straight to the hospital for four days on a cocktail of blood thinners and bed rest.

It's neat, yet painful, to read the thoughts that I wrote in my travel journal at the time. Even though they felt a world away, my family was with me -- in phone calls and emails and a lovely flower delivery from my husband.

And it's amazing to see how God carried me. I did a lot of reading and wrote down verses that comforted me.

Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress, be merciful to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

It's amazing what a difference five years makes. I never would have imagined all of the good things -- a complete recovery from the blood clot and NO recurrences (Praise the Lord!!!!). A beautiful daughter. A new house. My family. But it's also challenging for me to keep up the same faith in the good times. Ya know? Sometimes I forget in the good times that I need God just as much. I start to think that I can just rely on myself. Sure, I'm INCREDIBLY thankful for all that I have, but am I truly putting my trust in God? That's a challenge.

So, at the end of this really long post, I challenge myself to rekindle my faith when I feel like I'm in a lull....even though the lull might mean that life is going smootly.

I'm really glad my closet cleaning adventure lead me to an old buried treasure.