Dear all, welcome to Week 6!
February is here and flying by. The blog this week is written by a friend from church, Corinne. We are part of a little group that like to go to dinner and share about life over food together. It is a fairly new tradition but it has become a firm favourite of mine! There are so many moving words in this piece that I wanted to make about 90% of it stand out in bold. I managed, just about, to restrain myself but I hope that you find it as encouraging as I do.
In Corinne's words...
"When Laura approached me to write content for Hope Hour, my initial thoughts were that there wasn't really anything of interest going on in my life at present. It was the winter of 2023 - 2024 and my two young children seemed to be continually unwell. It was stressful, we cancelled so many social activities because of illness and it seemed to drag on from October all through the winter break and still into the February of 2024, where I now find myself writing.
I began to realise that I was being nudged to share the journey; which for many parents is a familiar part of being in the trenches raising small people. But what I'd been increasingly aware of, was the need to let go of control and just offer what I could no longer hold onto, up to Jesus.
I've long been aware through my nature of work, how trauma can take root. In December 2023 my daughter became very unwell and was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever. I couldn't believe it.... wasn't this a Victorian illness? How did children still get this? Thankfully she was an isolated case both at nursery and at home but the trauma of bringing a child through that began to take root in my mind and a huge landslide of anxiety began to overwhelm me. She improved, grew stronger and we got on with life again.... until another bug hit us in January, and then one again in February. I wanted to run away, to hide, to take myself away from it all.
But I knew I had to show up in this for two small people who were watching my every move, like panicked passengers on a turbulent airplane. I began to cry out to the Lord that I couldn't take any more of this. It had been relentless for months. I began to realise I needed to lay things down. I couldn't own my children's health; I needed to let go and allow God to be in control.
Slowly I began to hear his voice not to "begrudge the day of small beginnings" (Zechariah 4:10) and that he would never "leave me nor forsake me" (Deuteronomy 31:8). I realised that holding onto the control of these things was causing intense anxiety around what I couldn't control and I learned that on some days, in some seasons, laying these things down was a daily, sometimes hourly exercise. As I write this, we're recovering from a bug only a few days ago. But I know the bigger aspect to this is that we didn't journey this alone.
There is still a lot of work to be done with my trauma which I am aware does stem from childhood and the unfortunate incident of a sibling being so gravely ill. But I know that God is kind. He doesn't force things to happen, only gentle nudges and calming whispers in the small, quiet hours; often with an ailing child nestled into a shoulder. So in these days of small beginnings, I feel so much hope about what is to come; because walking with God in the toughest of times brings new revelations and fresh hope into each day."
Corinne is married to Pete and has two young children. She works in people development within the corporate space of Property Management. She is passionate about seeing people transform and grow whether in the secular or faith space.
Thank you all so much for reading. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Until next week,
Laura
Oh this is so relatable for me! I feel your pain! My son had undiagnosed asthma when he was little, and seemed to be permanently ill. Sometimes like you say, it's a case of hunkering down and eventually things ease off, and knowing God is with you in it.