The Den, the Dog and the Computer

I just read the last post and realized while I had mentioned the den flooding, I hadn't written in this forum how tough a month May was. Well, hey--this blog is supposed to encourage you, not drag you down with my problems! But even the encouragers get discouraged from time to time. And sometimes it takes the valleys for us to savor the mountain tops.

In hindsight, the trials were minor inconveniences compared to the tribulations others face. At the time, though, they were traumatic for me. In the space of three days, the den flooded, the dog had a stroke and the computer died. The good news (and there's always a silver lining; it just takes a while to find it in some cases) is that the flooding inspired a home improvement project that will make us like our den so much more. Daisy, my precious 16-year-old dog, is doing so much better. And the computer had no recoverable files, but much had been saved on my laptop. So life goes on.
(Here is Daisy shortly after her surgery for an abscessed tooth. We think the surgery caused the stroke.)

What I learned is that just because I am in ministry does not make me immune from troubles. God is not going to make life easier just because I talk about Him for an hour on the radio everyday. Ha! Look what Jesus did--and it didn't make His life on earth any easier.

Another lesson--I know I will be more compassionate when someone tells me about their house flooding or their pet ailing. And I will have lots of advice about computers and backing up!

The biggest loss was losing many, many e-mail addresses. So if you happen to read this and were on any of my e-newsletter lists, you may not be on the new list. Please send an email to Lorri ("at" sign) Lorri dot com if you want to subscribe again.

Now you know why the letter I got in the mail today was such a spirit-lifter.