A Torn and Fractured Lent, but God is still Good

In my last post, I mentioned that this Lent has been a hard and heavy one--much stress and many decisions to be made.  Well, it suddenly, drastically got harder and heavier--on a global level, and also on a level very close to home.

First, the global level--which I'm sure everyone who reads this is currently experiencing.  Last week the coronavirus started wrecking havoc not only in China and Europe, but it found it's way to the United States, causing a global pandemic and all schools to shut down.  So all of this week, I have been homeschooling my own kids, but also continuing to be the 3rd grade teacher at our school---but in an online setting.  It's been a bit crazy, but honestly, I love being home with my kids.  The schooling only takes a few hours, and then the day is spent playing outside, playing board games, getting chores done that haven't been done in ages, and of course some hard-earned iPad time for the boys :)  But still there are worries in the back of everyone's mind...will the virus hit our family, will the stores all shut down, will we have to do online schooling the rest of the year, will there be a baseball season, will Joseph have his senior graduation ceremony, will we have enough toilet paper--oops, I mean food--to last until this is all over???

These questions and worries all became so little as our next "cross" of Lent was suddenly handed to us much closer to home...

On Sunday (one week ago today), Joseph had a bad skiing accident.  Tore his MCL.  Fractured his tibia.  It was the last ski day of the year and the ski hill was about to shut down for the season, so Joseph and Michael wanted to have one last fun skiing adventure before all the snow melted.  Now I'm sure Joseph wishes they had not gone, but somehow we trust that God allowed this for a good reason.  Romans 8:28 has become our verse of the year:  "All things work together unto good for those who love the Lord."  God is going to bring good out of this.  But it is still hard.  It's hard for me as a mother to watch my son hurting, and to not be able to fix it.  It's hard for Joseph on so many levels, and definitely not something he expected to experience his senior year.  He was looking forward to mountain biking with friends, playing basketball with his brothers in the driveway during this long break from school, and most of all, he was eager for his final baseball season which was about to begin (and which might not even happen due to the pandemic).  But I have to say, he has been handling it like a strong, Christian man.  No complaint has escaped his lips.  I am so proud of him.  We found out next week whether or not he will need surgery.  In the meantime, we wait, trust, and pray for God's healing and His graces to be poured on Joseph as he unites his suffering with Jesus's.

Yes, the coronavirus pandemic and Joseph's accident are both difficult crosses to bear.  It is indeed a torn and fractured Lent for our family, but God is still good and there is still so much for which to be thankful:  Joseph's accident could have been worse, we have all this time in quarantine for Joseph to recover without having to worry about using crutches to get up and down the steps at school, we have a big beautiful house to hunker down in and to have lots of family bonding time in, we have 7 amazing acres of land to enjoy when we get stir-crazy, we are stocked up with plenty of food to last us months and months, we have extra time to pray, and of course, we have the assurance that God is with us and will get us through this so we have no need to panic.  "Jesus, we trust in You," will continue to be our motto.

This will likely be a Lent that none of us will ever forget.  But hopefully, in years down the road when we look back on it, we will recall more than anything the great good that came from the suffering, rather than the suffering itself.

Totus Tuus,
~Maria