Object Lessons

Lesson # 1- God to Kelly- I am in control.

At the beginning of our road to find out why we weren't making babies, my GYN ordered bloodwork, SA, etc... all of which came back "normal". Moving on to the next step was a procedure called a Hysterosalpingogram- or HSG- a procedure where dye is injected into your cervix and watched on an X-ray to see if your tubes are blocked or open. This was the first seemingly serious test that I'd had done, and I. Was. Petrified. I called his office the day before and was given a RX for one Valium. I took it about 5 minutes before we walked into the hospital. I was so scared, but confident that, at any second, the Valium would do it's magical work and I'd be high as a kite. Too bad for me, that my doctor was running AHEAD of schedule, and he was able to start the procedure well before my appointment time, leaving no time for the drug to do it's job. Cut to the chase- this procedure, on a pain scale of 1 to 10, was a 9. I was crying, shaking, the whole bit. The catheter, once it was "in", was looped around itself in such a way that when my doc injected the dye, it just spilled back out, and by out, I mean OUT. Take two. Let's give this another go. Same story- another looped catheter. Doc says- "I can't do this again- it's too much for you." I say- "You must do this again, I can't leave here without an answer!" (Because, after all, the world operates on my schedule. Or at least, it should.) Doc- "No, we're going to schedule you for a Laparoscopy, and you'll be asleep for the procedure and it will show more anyway." Me- "BWAHH AHHAAAHHHAAAHHHAA". Not even being dramatic here. I guess at this point, the Valium was affecting me. Way to show up fashionably late, Valium! Well done!!

I know, it's a long story, and this wasn't even half of it. But skip to that night, when my darling Mom had come over to check on me after my day's adventures. She brought me a cute top and a pair of gouchos to cheer me up, and she said these words... "Maybe it's God's way of making sure that you don't waste any time... what if the results were fine and your doctor told you to keep trying because your tubes weren't blocked? Maybe they'll find something with the Laparoscopy that they couldn't with the HSG?" She is so wise. My Laparoscopy revealed Endometriosis- the reason my GYN believed that I wasn't getting pregnant. (Turns out that my RE doesn't think that's necessarily the reason, but forget that for now.) The moral of the story is- if I'd had that test done, and my tubes were open, (which, for those of you wondering about my tubes- they are wide open), then who knows how long we'd have waited to find out that I had endometriosis? My GYN blasted it away, along with some of my doubts about God's workings in my life.



Lesson #2- God to Kelly- You are not in control.

A couple of weeks ago, I came home after work with my delicious dinner from Chic Fil A- nuggets, fries, Dr. Pepper, and lots of buttermilk ranch dressing to drench everything in. (Thanks Amy for sharing that jewel of information. My thighs are so relieved to have more of a reason to jiggle.) I put my dinner on the table in our kitchen, and am chatting with another friend of ours who is waiting for Kirk to play softball. I hear an unfamiliar sound coming from the other side of the kitchen... look a little closer, and realize that we have a major leak happening in our kitchen from the ceiling- drywall is not so dry, you know what I'm saying? The floor is soaked, I'm freaking out, I mean, I don't know what else to do so my default reaction is to freak out. Cut off in traffic? Freak out. Coffee is lukewarm and not perfectly hot? Freak out. Wake up at 6:52 when my alarm is set for 7? Freak out. So I'll skip the boring stuff- we had to call a guy that our friends use to come out and look at the leak, he tells me all about the problem... (blah blah, my dinner is now cold as ice... freaking out!)... and he leaves. I've cleaned up the kitchen as best as I could, and have a bucket placed under the leak, which is now a drip every 30 seconds or so. Finally, I'm eating my Chick Fil A. That really has nothing to do with the story. I'm really distracted tonight. Can't seem to stay on topic... freaking out! FOCUS!! Okay, the plumber comes the next day and I leave the checkbook in the bowl on our counter so Kirk can pay the guy. Kirk calls me at work to tell me the damage, and I go about the rest of my day, relieved that it's being taken care of. A couple of days later, I asked Kirk where the checkbook was, he can't remember. He looks around for a few minutes, and decides to go to bed and look for it tomorrow. He gets out of bed 5 minutes later and tears apart our kitchen/ dining room/ basket on our steps/ office/ bedroom/ bathroom/ laundry room looking for this checkbook. It is clearly keeping him awake. He can't find it. Secretly, I get very angry at him, because, he lost our checkbook! I know it was a mistake, and that's why I'm keeping it a secret that I'm SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF! So, I do what any good wife would do... I decide to find it myself! I pray, and ask God to show me, because I know that He knows, and... nothing. My next move was to... brace yourself... freak out! whenever Kirk did anything even slightly wrong, because HE LOST OUR CHECKBOOK! He overpoured a glass of milk, FREAKING OUT SO FREAKING MAD FREAK OUT! Finally, at dinner last night, I confess that I'm harboring all of this anger toward him and ask him to forgive me, which he does, because he is the better person EVERY TIME. After dinner, I walk upstairs to watch a few videos on how to shoot myself full of the new medications that arrived on Friday. I'm saying to God, "You know, I was honest with Kirk and everything and yet still, we don't have the checkbook" when, for whatever reason, I look to my left, under the paper tray of our printer, and... it's the checkbook. God's timing is really something. Something Amazing. Something Perfect. Something that I'll never understand.



I am not a fan of the pastime of Learning Lessons. I like to know it all up front. However, I am so grateful that My Jesus knows exactly how to get through to me in a big way. I mean, a checkbook! A X-Ray! These are things that, as long as I live, I will remember with such gratitude for His grace and mercy every single second of every day of my life.



I would love to hear about any lessons that have made a life changing impact in your life or in the life of someone you know. Care to share?