What do you do when things don't go as planned?

Wednesday I was excited to be going to the doctor. I was going to getting my final cast off and getting to go home and shave my hairy beast of a leg. I didn't take my shower and wore pants so I wouldn't have to see the hairy beast or have it accidently rub against my other leg. I was going to enjoy my shower and scrub and scrub and shave and shave. Took off the old cast. Took the X-rays. Everything is going as planned when the doctor comes in and says, "It's not healed." WHAT?!

"It's not healed," he repeated. I was sad.  I told him so. I was immediately was faced with a choice I have been faced with several times in the last month and a half. Am I going to praise God and thank Him for it not being healed? You know, that's a really hard thing to do. Because honestly what if it doesn't work out for good? What if I don't get healed? What if I have to have surgery? What if, what if, what if? All these thoughts and more flitted through my head and probably across my face as I sat there digesting the words, "It's not healed."

I then choose to remain calm, and praise The Lord in my heart. The doctor was examining my X-rays during this time and he said turned around and felt the leg promptly making my toes go numb and causing my foot to go paralyzed. He said, "Yeah, it's not healed. Another two weeks in a cast." I sat there trying to muster the words of praise to our gracious Heavenly Father. The doctor left the room for something and I quick called my husband so he could be for-warned when I came out with another cast. I didn't cry, I didn't over-spiritualize. I just told him the facts. That's sometimes hard too, because I am an emotional woman and it is easier to cry than to be factual.

The doctor came back in and had all the cast stuff. I was glad I was wearing pants because of the awkward position you end up being in as he is putting on the cast. I start asking him questions and being happy and just making the most of it. We talked about Charming Charlies and how he would be the coolest dad if he went there with his daughters. We talked about his other practice. We then got on the subject of having babies and how me and my husband were done. We talked about how I loved being involved in the ministry. No, I didn't get paid but I wouldn't trade it for the world! We talked about how my favorite part is discipleship. He had never heard of that so I had the opportunity to share the gospel with him and explain that discipleship is teaching new christians how to live the christian life and how that is not confined to a book. We use a curriculum but we also help that person with their target areas, i.e. teaching a wife to not spend her husband's entire paycheck in one weekend at Walmart and Meijer. He asked me if I was speaking from personal experience and did I spend my husband's entire paycheck like that. I told him I did not. I didn't tell him my husband would make me take everything back if that were the case. I told him that one thing that helped me was when Paul wrote in the New Testament that whether he abounded or whether he was abased, he had learned to be content. I told him if that meant we get pbj 7 times that week or we could afford spaghetti, steak, chicken and all the nice stuff I was going to content and happy.

At this point he stopped what he was doing and reached for my chart and jotted something down. I don't have insurance so all of this has been coming out of pocket. It was originally supposed to be $100 for the office visit, $50 for the x-rays, and $$$$ for the actual work done (fiberglass cast). The first visit as we were talking he found out my husband was a pastor and he said he was not going to charge us for the cast. That visit cost $100 because I didn't have to have x-rays. The last visit was supposed to be $150 but he told the receptionist that it was only $100. This week when I went to go check out, the price was only $50. That was so God because we had about $30 for groceries that week and honestly I had been praying for daily bread and God sent us our doctor to give us the extra we needed!

The doctor also told me that most of the time this break does not heal and requires surgery. He told me that the healing, although slow, was a miracle! I am so thankful I chose to praise the Lord before I knew all the good God was doing. When I got home I could tell my kids were really disappointed. This has been a long journey for them. I sat them down and told them Romans 8:28. I asked them how breaking your foot could be good. I went on to verse 29 and told them that if it made us just a little bit more like Jesus than it was a VERY good thing!

So what do you do when things don't go as planned? Do you pout, do you make things miserable for everyone else? Do you hole up in your room and pretend life doesn't exist? Or do you praise and thank God for the "trouble" He brought into your life? Do you determine with God's help you are going to have a good attitude? Do you decide to serve God and love Him not matter the outcome?