Yesterday we were blessed to be able to go out to lunch with our new friend Hannah, the nurse from Froedtert. As I have mentioned, she and several others from the hospital became very special to us during our time together. She is a special person, of whom her parents must be very proud, just as we are of our Hannah. We were not sure how things would go exactly, after all, the biggest thing that we shared in common was those days in the hospital, and they have ended. We were the first to arrive at the restaurant as they opened, so we had the place almost to ourselves. She brought us a gift that she had made, and I will include a picture of it with this post. It is a reminder of our survival strategy from the hospital: embroidered, framed, and on a piece of hospital blanket. It says, “Do right, breathe, take small steps, and keep moving forward.” This was not something that we had previously thought of. It was just something that was “born out of the adversity” those dark days in the hospital. In some ways, it was a reminder that when times get hard, we need to slow down and shift our focus from the future to the present.
Controlling our minds, as we discussed in a previous blog, is a very key part of handling problems. Shifting our focus and limiting our thoughts from the “could be’s” to what “actually is”, really helped us a lot. Concentrate on the task and portion of the problem immediately at hand, rather than on the entire problem. Limit your thoughts and worries to the portions of the problem immediately in front of you. Fight each “battle” one at a time and take them as they come. Jesus referred to this in Matthes 6:34 where He said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, let tomorrow worry about itself, because each day has enough of its own troubles to deal with.” This was His command that He gave right after He explained that; if God “clothes” the flowers of the field more beautifully than King Solomon on a good day, and He also provides for the sparrows, who don’t plant, harvest, or prepare for their future meals, then certainly, God will take care of us because, after all, “aren’t we more valuable to Him than those little things?” (Matthew 6:26) In short, stop worrying and trust that God is doing what’s best.
We had a good time with nurse Hannah. Despite our daughter’s death being the biggest thing that we had in common, there were plenty of other things that we had to talk about. She is a strong woman who faces these realities on a somewhat daily basis but does it with a heart of love rather than a callous approach. The boys really enjoy talking to her too. She made a point of speaking to each of them specifically, with questions about their interests, school, and plans for the future. If we had been only focused on ourselves those days, we would have missed out on some amazing blessings that the Lord had planned for us. Some may see the dark cloud attached to every silver lining, but missing those blessings, even during adversity, is detrimental to us. Focus on today, limit your worries, remember that God is in control, and don’t miss the “rainbows” in life that can only come after the storms.
We are blessed.
Hannah Helps 