Trying times...

Ever feel like no matter what you do, you can't just get ahead?

About two months ago, we discovered our dog was diabetic. He'd been peeing a lot in the house and had this insatiable thirst. We go to the vet, they test him, he's got ketones in his urine and his sugar is real high. So, the vet keeps him in her office (at just over $100 per day) for three days trying to figure out how much insulin he'll need to be regulated. Oh yeah, then we need to go buy insulin and needles. He has to go back every week to have his numbers checked once again. Medical bills are coming in from the birth of our rainbow baby Eliana. Two weeks ago, my wife has some pretty severe abdominal pain, I take her to the ER, she has a perforated appendix and has to have emergency surgery. She didn't recover well from the surgery, spending 3 days in the hospital. When we left, she was in more pain than before, the doc that performed the surgery says, "This is all normal, we'll see you on the 22nd for a follow up." In the mean time, we go to our family doctor, he says this doesn't sound right, and sends us to his gut guy. New doc takes a look at blood work and CT scans, determines she has an infection. Antibiotics prescribed, which means no nursing. Get home today to find out our diabetic dog, whom we've stopped calling Charlie and are now calling him Wilfred (for obvious reasons...he's got the diabetus), ate an entire cup package of Ice Breakers gum. Come to find out it contains xylitol, extremely toxic in dogs, but OK for you and me. He's puking all over, stumbling around the house, so we decide to take a trip to the emergency vet clinic (it's $103 just to walk through the door). They tellme how bad this xylitol is for him, check his blood sugar, and can't determine if it is high because of the gum (which would lower his numbers) or because he hasn't had his insulin since 7 AM this morning (he was at about 526, normally around 200-250). They recommend he stay overnight for observation (apparently, xylitol can cause some pretty severe, irreparable liver damage that almost always results in death) for a cost of $535-$775, depending on what happens. Needless to say, he's resting comfortably (after vomiting more gum onto the carpet) at home.

I came across an article by Billy Graham asking "Does God test our faith by letting hard times happen to us?" He writes, "Our faith is weak...God doesn't test us because he doesn't know how strong we are. Instead, He tests us because we don't know how strong we are." Acts 14:22 (NIV) says, "...We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."

When I feel bogged down by the weight of the world and all it's problems, I often find myself yearning for a reminder of times when I'm not enduring hardships. It can be tough sometimes, but with trust in the Lord, support of my loving wife, and smiles from my beautiful daughters, the darkness goes away, sometimes briefly, sometimes long enough to let me look around and awe in His creation.

Until next time,
-Joe