A picture-perfect 50th for my in-laws, Norman and Bessie Richards!
I set out a while back to recap last year’s experiences with our son Wesley’s second surgery, and I called it, “The Year of Miracles.” And it truly was. The funny thing is, I never got around to writing the grand finale! But for some reason getting the conclusion right was like trying to end a novel that just wasn’t over. Those of you who know us know that God more than showed up that day and the surgery was a complete success. Wes is currently enjoying his first summer internship as a mechanical engineering major at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, and other than the continued screenings for new tumors, he is living a perfectly normal life.
You might be wondering at the sudden inspiration to add some final thoughts to this series, so I’ll tell you. It was the weather. Yep, you heard right, the weather. Last week our family enjoyed a week at a lake house in what I call “The Pinky of the Mitten” to celebrate Gene’s parents 50th wedding anniversary. We’d been planning the trip for almost a year, and about three months before we were supposed to go my father-in-law was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer. This is devastating news for any family, but after the last few years we’ve had, it was especially difficult to hear. He had to begin treatment right away, and our celebration of their life together looked like it may not happen after all. So we all started praying.
The fact that he was actually strong enough to make the trip would have been miracle enough, but I wanted more. We all wanted more. Our spring in Southeast Michigan had been less than stellar. We’d had more rain, clouds and cools temps than I could remember in a long time, and all I could see were the 10 of us in parkas, huddled together under blankets around a damp campfire. But God the artist had something different in mind, something completely opposite, and we spent a week filled with warm sunshine, billowy beautiful clouds and the biggest, bluest sky you could imagine.
It was while I was swimming in the lake one day that it occurred to me. It’s what we’d prayed for, pleaded for, and in my case, begged for; that Norman and Bessie would celebrate their 50th with the best weather our Mitten could muster. But I was still surprised even after every miracle we’d seen over the last three years, big, small and in between. God met us at the lake and painted a miracle-sized backdrop for our trip.
So there you have it. My grand finale had more to do with this vacation than anything else. It reminded me that God wants us to ask, expect His best, recognize it, and be thankful. We’ve had quite a few ups and downs since January with my father-in-law’s health, a change I wasn’t expecting, some test results for Wes that were iffy, and a host of other small struggles that seemed big at the time. But the common denominator in all of them is that God is still God, and we can trust Him to always do what is best for us.
As the curtain comes down on my Year (or so) of Miracles, I can see Him in every step and I’m more than grateful. Thanks for joining me on the journey.