Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Difference a Day Makes

What a difference a day makes.

In my last post, nearly a week ago, I talked about making Spring plans.

On Tuesday, one day after posting that, my spring plans were severely interrupted.

On Tuesday evening my son fell from a friend's zip-line and smacked face-first into the steel frame of a trampoline. The impact fractured his upper palate in several places, knocked out several teeth and pushed others way out of place. He also got a cut above his eye that required 9 stitches.

Within minutes of seeing what happened to him, I passed out cold and hit my head on a hard floor - leaving two goose-egg bumps that are now bruises. To say I don't handle blood, cuts or medical trauma well is accurate an understatement.

I'd started writing my life plan, writing some devotions, and prepping for some upcoming speaking engagements last week. In addition to finishing those, I'd planned on cleaning out some closets, decluttering, and doing a little deep cleaning. Instead I've been in ER rooms, dentist's offices, oral surgeons offices and on my knees.

I am happy to say Caleb came through the oral surgery well on Friday. But we still have a long dental-treatment road ahead of us. To those of you who heard about his accident and prayed for us ... many, many thanks.

To those of you willing to pause and pray today - for continued restoration, for healthy teeth and roots, for no tooth discoloration, and for wisdom on how to proceed from here - many, many thanks.




So my new spring plans are to nurse my baby back to health as best I can. He is on an all liquid diet for the next few weeks - that alone is throwing me for a bit of a loop. (Please send your best soup recipes!)

I feel a lot stirring in me, underground. But I have no poignant points to make right now other than God is good. And the fact that sometimes our best-laid plans get interrupted. And once in a while, gut-wrenching stuff gets placed in our path.

The sun rises and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.


Through this awful week I've clung to Jesus. Where else would I go? He has the words of Life.

And through it all I've found Him faithful and more than sufficient.

The day after the accident someone happened to quote my book in a tweet, "In God's kingdom, painful situations are catalysts for glorious transformation. #ItsNoSecret @RachelOlsen." 

I believe that.

So I guess God's plans for me and my family this spring is transformation of some sort. I'll take that.

I'm thankful that in God's design, mourning is always followed by rejoicing, and death is always followed by resurrection. I bet those gathering at Jesus' tomb some 2012 years ago were also thinking "What a difference a day makes."

Happy Easter, my friends.

May yours be transformative as well (minus the medical trauma and the passing out of course!)



14 comments:

  1. Oh, my friend! What a week! Praying for that precious boy to heal up just right. Love you! Happy Easter!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, Rachel... I can't imagine! I have been praying for your Caleb and for you. We have a friend who suffered a comparable injury (though it was a baseball to the face instead) and he has done amazingly well. I pray the same for your little man. Continued prayers for you all as you nurse him back to health. May the peace of Jesus be with you...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I saw your post on fb about your son and have been thinking about him and praying. I knew it must have been bad for surgery to be involved. Oh, Rachel, I am so sorry that this happened, but I am so encouraged by your post. We all need to remember that sometimes bad things happen to good people and when it does, what are we going to do? HE is enough to get us through zipline accidents requiring surgery, passing out, and a schedule that's all messed up. I will be praying for you in the days and weeks to come and certainly for your son to recover quickly and better than the drs ever imagined. I do have some great soup recipes I'll send your way this week, okay? Enjoy your Easter and remember you've made it through this week because HE is no longer in that grave for HE IS RISEN!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Pam. Amen to that. And yes, send soup recipes when you get a chance!

      Delete
  4. Dear Rachel,

    As I've said on Facebook, I am thanking God for the successful healing that He will give Caleb...and now I'm adding thanks for the new and wonderful transformation that He will work through your lives through this "plans changing day."

    I am amazed at your ability to encourage and share "aaahs" with us as you experience your struggles. In the midst of your trials you hand us this: I'm thankful that in God's design, mourning is always followed by rejoicing, and death is always followed by resurrection. I bet those gathering at Jesus' tomb some 2012 years ago were also thinking "What a difference a day makes."

    And I am very thankful that the Lord led me to experience your wisdom and strength through your book, your blog and through passing notes in class :-). Your understanding of the Lord and His Word helps me understand things in a much deeper way (kind of like C.S. Lewis...I just "get it" when you share something).

    You continue to be in my heartfelt prayers. I'm asking the Lord to wrap you in His rock-steady arms and pour his strength into you over the coming days, weeks and months. Change is never easy, but it's bearable with His love cocooning you.

    Leah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your comment touched my heart, Leah. Thank you.

      Delete
  5. Praying for you, Rick and the family as your dear boy recovers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, Rachel....I am getting dizzy...ready to faint...just reading this! My heart breaks for both of you....so hard for your son and just as hard for your mommy heart!!! Will continue to pray. Lots of love and big hugs coming your way!

    Hugs,
    Sharon

    Isaiah 40:11

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sharon. And thanks so much for thinking of fro-yo! YOU are sweet as a fuzzy peach!

      Delete
  7. Rachel -- I am so sorry this happened! Even if you handle other people's blood and such, its very different when its your own child. I'll be praying for you continuously. You don't mention where you are having the surgery, but my son had extreme facial surgery at UNC and it turned out really well. He could have thicker type liquids so while he was recovering he had a lot of milkshakes and shakes from powered protein stuff mixed with fruit etc. There are a lot of smoothie recipes out there. I also made runny instant potatoes once he graduated to thicker consistency.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for these tips, Diane ... from a mama who knows. So glad your son recovered well!

      Delete

Chime in.