Get Well Soon Kaitlin: Me or Him?

As most weeks have been in this season, this past week has been a mixture of wonderful & challenging. I have come to a realization recently that has brought a certain amount of freedom to my soul when I am sitting in the midst of the chaos: it's either about me, or it's about God. What I mean by that is quite simple-and yet somehow, evokes a daily war within. When people say, "God doesn't give you anything you can't handle-you must be incredibly strong"-I think most times they say that to encourage me & my character and while well received...it doesn't make much sense to me these days.

You see, I don't believe that God puts something on our plate with the intention of pushing us to the end of our rope, just to see how much we can handle. I also don't believe that it's about what I can handle or can't handle. To me, it seems to make much more sense to just trust that whatever happens on this earth, I have the God of the universe on my side. He will never leave me or forsake me. He walks with me through whatever comes up. The realization is: it's about Him. It's about His consistency & faithfulness. He is sovereign over every ounce of what happens during my lifetime--and he works all things together for His glory. It's not really about me, about my family or about our circumstances. It's really about the plan that he has for our lives and for the lives around us. I find that I'm quick to analyze the things happening around me & my family and wonder things like-when will it end? when will our luck change? when will things be easier or comfortable again? so many hard things have happened in the last couple months to John & Kait...they are bound to have something good happen, right?

Actually....wrong. Do I hope that this season is followed by a season of abundance & joy & comfort for my family? Absolutely. Do I believe that we deserve that, or that somehow our "luck" is about to change? Not really. Who knows? Reality is, we could have this season of endless challenges last the rest of our lives. Frankly, I don't think it's even about that at all. My deepest prayer in this moment is that our family is a family who believes with the deepest longings of our souls that what goes on in this life, is about the God of the universe-and not about us. Would you pray this over us in this time?

This week John & Kait + the rest of the Wanberg's & Daniel and I were fortunate enough to attend a dear friend's wedding (pictures below-congrats again to Sue & Tom! We love you!) and celebrate Thanksgiving together at the Rice's house. Both were joyous celebrations of life & the immense blessings the Lord has poured upon us. We sat around the table on Thanksgiving evening after a long walk together around the neighborhood & shared what we are most thankful for. Craig & the incredible staff that took care of Kaitlin, a family who is united when it would be so easy to be enveloped by stress & turn against one another, a community who is not afraid of our burdens-but gladly bears them with us. We are thankful for warm meals that were intentionally thought out and delivered, for Kaitlin's life and for Kait & John's marriage. We are thankful for warm homes, for the resources that we have been given & blessed with. We are thankful for the life of my sweet Grandma Jeanne & Mark's brother, Dennis. We spoke freely about the joys we have experienced over the last year, and about the hardships that we have fought & are fighting. At the end of our conversation, we ate pie & ice cream, had a family sing-along in the living room and laughed deeply.

We most certainty serve a generous and gracious God.

Prayer requests:

Pray that Kaitlin's panic attacks will go completely away
Pray that getting her brace off on Monday will go smoothly [she is sooooo excited!]
Pray that John & Kait would have a smooth transition into their newly renovated home when they begin to move in in the next couple weeks
Pray for Kait as she goes to visit her students next week & prepares to begin teaching again part time in January
Pray for the complete healing of Kait's spine-that she may walk again!

We appreciate each of you & your commitment to fighting for & walking with us....you are truly treasured by each member of our family.

We love you!

-Carolyn