This too shall pass
The lord is good.
At any specific second in your day, anything could happen and change your whole perspective.
Story:
We as a squad were up bright and early for our travel day from Guatemala to Malaysia, except it wasn’t so bright. It was 2am and it was pitch dark and all 47 of us were lined up to put our packs on the bus. As I came around the corner of the bus after giving my pack to the guy, I remember looking down and in the pitch dark thinking that there was a mound of dirt so it was safe to skip across and get around the line that had formed. Within seconds I was corrected and quiet confused. As I step forward, I didn’t feel the familiarity of the solid ground beneath my feet, nope, I saw black and felt my body falling. I instantly realized I had fallen into some kind of hole and instantly thought how am I going to get out of this & how far am I going to fall. It was disorienting but somehow I was completely calm and then I landed, took a deep breath and told myself it would be okay. I started to realized slowly the things around me, like people talking above me. I couldn’t see anything so I reached down mind you I had landed on my feet; I didn’t fall over; I had landed standing on my feet.
I grabbed my day pack that had been in my hands and remember saying to my team mates above me that I was okay. I asked if they would give me a second as I figured out just what hurt and to repeat to myself that I was okay and to not freak out. I looked around to see nothing but cement walls, I had fallen into a manhole; pretty much an 8ft hole in the ground for the rain water and dirt. Gratefully it was a dry season and there was no water and not much going on down there except trash. As I reached up for my teammates to pull me out I realized without them, there would have been no way out. There was nothing for me to grab onto or put my feet on and I had to rely on them to literally pull me out of this 8-foot hole. As I gratefully thanked my team mates, I sat on the ground for a minute and was just at peace as they asked me what hurt. I calmly just smiled and reassured them I was just banged up and shaken up. They helped me inside and we washed my leg and shout out to Sarah and Jordan for being my amazing EMT squad mates.
(not the best picture but it was the only one taken in the bushel of everything)
Now in a time like this I can say that I would normally have just been cranky and freaked out, but that’s the amazing thing about God and the change that he will give you when you ask. I have been asking the Lord for many things on this trip and in my life, but something that I have struggled in, is just being calm in situations and focusing on the good. I walked on that bus feeling the most at peace, I chose to laugh at the fact at how ridiculous that was, I fell into a manhole. I chose to focus on the good of the situation that I didn’t have to go to the hospital, yes I was scratched up and hurting but I am alive with no head injury, no broken bones, and no stitches. It could have just been so much worse but it wasn’t, the Lord protected me.
Isaiah 41:13 – “for I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.””
I am grateful, just realizing how go with the flow and how focus on the good that I have become. No I am not perfect and I for sure still struggle with change or making a blah day good, but I could have easily focused on the pain and the misfortune and just hated the day, but I didn’t. I will continue to remember that one bad thing does not define me, it will be okay even if not in that moment… it is just that, a moment and it will soon pass.
