Blessing come through raindrops

I was listening to K Love while driving last night and I heard this song that I have heard at least one hundred times before. It was” Blessings” by Laura Story.  It was different this time. It hit me in a different way.  “What if the trials of this life are really mercies in disguise?” My mind went back to the worst year of my life, April 2008 to April 2009.

April 20, 2008 Marissa and I are sitting in Honolulu international airport waiting for our flight home. We were discussing our trip, our “late honeymoon”. We were half joking half serious about getting a business loan and buying a coffee shop in Kona so we wouldn’t have to go home. One phone call ended all our joking. I looked at the caller ID and didn’t recognize the number but it was from Chicago. I gave the phone to Marissa and said, “Here you answer it”. It was my sister Denise’s Mother-in-law. She wanted to know how my mom was doing. We had no idea what she was talking about.  Turns out mom had to go in for emergency surgery and she couldn’t get a hold of anyone else. I started franticly calling everyone and my sister Kim answered.  She said, “We didn’t want to spoil your vacation so we were going to wait till you got home. Mom had emergency surgery today to remove a tumor.  It was cancer, endometrial cancer. Mom had a full hysterectomy, they removed some of her intestines, she has a colostomy bag and they are doing a biopsy of some polyps they found on her liver. They believe they removed all the cancer and she is resting comfortable.  That was the longest plain flight ever. I spent most of my time just praying silently and fighting back tears.

Over the next few months I spent my free time with mom in the hospital.  Mom did not get better. The Biopsy returned positive for cancer and mom refused anymore surgery. She had her paperwork changed to do not resuscitate. She said. “All my friends are gone, I have had a good life and I’m ready.”  I had no intention on arguing with her. She was released from the hospital and the family agreed she should live with my brother Don and his wife Linda. They had an extra bedroom on the first floor so mom could move around easily and Don had just recently retired and could be with mom in the day.

Sept 13, 2008 The Des Plaines River flooded my home. We had eighteen inches of water throughout the house. We live in a single story ranch. We lost almost everything. During the cleanup we found a flyer in our mailbox for a free spaghetti dinner at the Des Plaines Bible Church. A few years back my wife and I were church shopping and we visited this church and it did make our short list of churches to attend. We went there for dinner that night. It was what we needed at the time, rest. This was also the first of many handshakes with Ralph. We never forgot the outpouring of love we received that day.

We were homeless gypsies for a while. We lived with my sister-in-law for a while but my family was in one room and we were far from work. So I talked to my brother and he let us take over his upstairs apartment. We stayed until my house was finished being rebuilt at the beginning of April 2009. My young daughter was able to spend every day with her grandma.  She was always at my mother’s side.  Makayla was only two when my mom got sick. She still talks about my mom to this day because of the time they spent together.  My wife and I got to spend the last nine months of my mother’s life with her. We saw my brothers and sisters on a dally bases. Family and friends were in and out of Don’s house to visit mom all the time. I would have missed all this if I’d been home. Although I would not want to relive the flood I was so blessed to have that time with my mom. 

Mom passed away April 10, 2009 just a few days after we moved back home. She was surrounded by her children as she took her last breath. I remember holding her hand telling her she doesn’t have to suffer anymore that God was going to take care of her now. With tears in my eyes with my brothers and sisters around her mom took her last breath. All her pain was gone and she had peace at last.

So when Laura Story sings, “Sometimes blessing come through raindrops.” You know someone who literally was blessed by raindrops. Yes my house was flooded. Yes I was living off the charity of others for over nine months. These were trials. The blessings were far greater. I spent time with my mother I wouldn’t have been able to have otherwise. My daughter has memories of her grandmother she would not have otherwise. The final blessing from the rain of the flood is this. My family went back to the Des Plaines Bible Church which has changed its name to the Bridge Community Church. My family has found a home there in October 2010. Every Sunday since then I have shaken Ralph’s hand. Three years after the flood. We never forgot their outpouring of love to us. God willing we will continue to participate in this churches love for one another and our community.

Sometimes Blessings do come from raindrops. My hope and my prayer are to all the families along the Mississippi River Valley. May you endure through your trials by this flood and I hope and pray you receive your blessings from these raindrops.