I know, that was a bad way to end that last post, but I didn't know where to go from there! So here is part two. I have called it "peace like a river" for a reason. Rivers are not calm and peaceful all the time. There are still times when there are obstacles that affect the smoothness of the water. I believe some of our trials are like that too! We hit a patch where there is nothing but white water and it is hard, dangerous, and scary! We get through it to calmer waters only to realize moments later that there is another small patch of white water waiting for you. But the important part to remember is that there is still beauty in the white water.
Have you ever seen white water? I think it is absolutely beautiful!! Everything seems greener in that area too! Within our own individual trials there is something beautiful there! There were so many tender mercies in my life these past few months and so many between Saturday and now. To name a few: My mother-in-law and father-in-law have studied medicine and knew exactly what to do in this situation, I was able to get some help from the hospital doctors, I have an incredible husband who is willing to help me with anything and everything that I was needing, I have amazing parents at home who were (and are) praying for me, my Father-in-law and my husband are worthy Priesthood holders who could give me a blessing of healing and peace, and so many other things!!
If you get nothing else out of this story and experience, let it be this: God is aware of you! God knows what you are going through. It may seem like a lot of white water in your life right now, but God is the ultimate white water raft guide. He can see ahead; He sees the peace that is coming your way. He will guide you and bless you with those sweet tender mercies to get you through your trial. I found this cool quote on Pinterest that goes like this: "Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ." Your trials are not to tear you down, they are to strengthen you! My friend Hank Smith pointed out that whenever you are going through a trial you should remember that your "track record for getting through bad days so far is 100% and that's pretty good."
Keep going! Push through and endure to the end. Will it be easy? Probably not, but if you turn to Christ and truly put your trust in Him it will be easier. He will help carry your burdens and make them lighter. He suffered for everything that you have ever felt and will ever feel. There is nothing that He can't handle, and there is nothing that you can't do with Him on your side.
*Just so I don't leave you hanging, here is an update: yesterday I woke up feeling a bit better. The nausea was gone and so was the diarrhea! I was still incredibly weak, but I also hadn't eaten or really taken in much nutrients for a day and a half! I focused on getting liquids into me. I tried sipping water, Powerade, or Sprite every few minutes. By the end of the night I could walk around on my own without feeling like I had to lean up against something all the time (every now and again I still need to, but it is a work in progress), I could lift something more than two pounds, and I didn't feel like I had to lay down all the time. I was able to keep everything down and it was excellent! Given, I am not 100%, but I am better!
Monday, May 18, 2015
Trials and Tender Mercies: Part 1--Enduring Trials
These past few months have been interesting for me. I am the type of person who doesn't normally get incredibly sick; I will get the occasional headache, but other than that I am good. Well, these past few months have been a real challenge. I have heard that the first year for teaching is the worst when it comes to illnesses but I didn't believe it. My first semester at school I didn't get sick at all, at least not badly enough to use my sick days. When I left for Christmas break, I was fit as a fiddle! I ran my first 5k, I was eating really healthy, I had just met the most adorable young man (who would later become my husband), and I was feeling the best I had in a long time!
This second semester has been very different.
Within the first few weeks of returning from Christmas break I was immediately hit with trials of sickness, awful nightmares, carpal tunnel syndrome, and negative thoughts running through my head. It was hard for me, but nothing has been harder than this past weekend. I wanted to write down my experiences not to be all "doom and gloom", but to express what Nephi shares in 1 Nephi 1:20 that, "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." The story itself of what happened this weekend is long, so I will put it into two parts. Don't feel obligated to read it; it is really so that I can remember what I am learning. But if you are going through a trial in your life, maybe this will help you. :)
On Friday I started rehearsals for my summer job at Starlight Mountain Theater! I cannot tell you how excited I was, and am, to be working with such an awesome cast!! Friday was the first day I met everybody and it was awesome! The day started out at 9:30 am with a cast read-through of our first production Cinderella. It was fun to experiment with the rest of the cast and see how they would be portraying their specific characters. The rest of the day was pretty much the same; Tony and I had costume fittings and then a dance rehearsal that evening. When we came back for the evening at 10:00 pm we ate dinner with the rest of the family. The food was delicious and we enjoyed some fun conversations about "rabid deer" and other things.
Around 10:45 pm I started feeling a little nauseous, not badly enough that I had to run for the toilet right then, but just enough that I could feel it. I attributed it to being in a different place with a different schedule and pushed it from my mind. We decided to play a game and I was slowly feeling worse. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't feel it very important. We ended up going to bed around 11:30 pm, by this time my stomach was starting to cramp and my nausea was feeling a little worse. I remember thinking to myself that "If I just get some sleep I am sure I will be fine."
3:00 am rolls around and I know that I need to get to a toilet fast! I didn't want to wake anybody up, so I prayed that I would be able to fall back asleep . . . it didn't work so well. I was feeling prompted to wake Tony up and move fast. I felt shaky and I didn't want to move, but I followed the prompting. I woke my husband up and he was nice enough to help me down and over to the toilet. It ended up being worse than I thought; not only was I nauseous but I had diarrhea as well. It was the worst sickness I could ever remember having. We ended up waking Mom and Dad up for some help which I am so grateful they were willing to give.
By the time I got cleaned up it was about 4:15 am. We had the impression that we needed to go down the mountain tonight to return back to our home. Mom and Dad gave me a bowl for the drive, they had everything packed for us so that we could leave as soon as we were done, and everything went smoothly. Dad and Tony gave me a blessing before we left and in the blessing, specifically we were told "you will get down the mountain without incident" which is something I really needed to hear! At that, we were off down the mountain. We had to stop three or four times because I started throwing up again, but there was no diarrhea on the ride down. It was a great tender mercy!
We got back to the apartment around 6:15 am where Tony tucked me into bed and we slept for a few hours. When we woke I felt absolutely awful! I have heard people say that they feel like they "got hit by a bus" and I would always ask how they would know that . . . I felt like I got hit by a bus!! My body ached, my head was pounding, I felt sick to my stomach, my stomach was cramping, it was just awful! I was hardly able to keep fluid in me and we were starting to get worried.
Around 3:00 pm (so 12 hours later) I started to get a fever. Tony put a cool washcloth on my forehead and rubbed cool water on my face and arms, but it would evaporate off within a few seconds. We got some Tylenol to see if that would help, but within the time that it should have worked my temperature went up. Tony deeply felt that I should go to the ER to get some help, so we did. Around 7:00 pm we ended up at the ER and we, fortunately, didn't have to wait long to get in to see some people!
They did several different tests to see if there was anything wrong and gave me an IV (which I apparently went through the one bag really fast). At first we thought they were just going to want the two samples (blood and urine) for their tests. After we had been there for about two hours a radiologist, Mike, came in and said that he was going to take me in for a CT scan. I could hear the worry in Tony's voice as he asked if he could come with me. It pained me to hear Mike tell Tony he was going to have to hang tight for five minutes. When I came back we waited another couple of hours for the results and the doctors to come in and tell us what was going on. Mom was able to come in, which I am so grateful for! I kept falling asleep mid-conversation, so I was really glad Tony had somebody there to keep him company.
The doctors came in around 10:45 pm and explained that the results showed that I probably had the norovirus that has been going around Nampa, but that it was causing some lower abdominal pain and then they said a lot of scientific things. In all I was sent home feeling slightly better due to having some liquid in me. I will be totally honest, I have never been so sick before in my life and it was really scary for me. It was even harder to watch my sweet husband want to do everything to make me feel better, and yet there really wasn't anything he could do.
This second semester has been very different.
Within the first few weeks of returning from Christmas break I was immediately hit with trials of sickness, awful nightmares, carpal tunnel syndrome, and negative thoughts running through my head. It was hard for me, but nothing has been harder than this past weekend. I wanted to write down my experiences not to be all "doom and gloom", but to express what Nephi shares in 1 Nephi 1:20 that, "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." The story itself of what happened this weekend is long, so I will put it into two parts. Don't feel obligated to read it; it is really so that I can remember what I am learning. But if you are going through a trial in your life, maybe this will help you. :)
On Friday I started rehearsals for my summer job at Starlight Mountain Theater! I cannot tell you how excited I was, and am, to be working with such an awesome cast!! Friday was the first day I met everybody and it was awesome! The day started out at 9:30 am with a cast read-through of our first production Cinderella. It was fun to experiment with the rest of the cast and see how they would be portraying their specific characters. The rest of the day was pretty much the same; Tony and I had costume fittings and then a dance rehearsal that evening. When we came back for the evening at 10:00 pm we ate dinner with the rest of the family. The food was delicious and we enjoyed some fun conversations about "rabid deer" and other things.
Around 10:45 pm I started feeling a little nauseous, not badly enough that I had to run for the toilet right then, but just enough that I could feel it. I attributed it to being in a different place with a different schedule and pushed it from my mind. We decided to play a game and I was slowly feeling worse. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't feel it very important. We ended up going to bed around 11:30 pm, by this time my stomach was starting to cramp and my nausea was feeling a little worse. I remember thinking to myself that "If I just get some sleep I am sure I will be fine."
3:00 am rolls around and I know that I need to get to a toilet fast! I didn't want to wake anybody up, so I prayed that I would be able to fall back asleep . . . it didn't work so well. I was feeling prompted to wake Tony up and move fast. I felt shaky and I didn't want to move, but I followed the prompting. I woke my husband up and he was nice enough to help me down and over to the toilet. It ended up being worse than I thought; not only was I nauseous but I had diarrhea as well. It was the worst sickness I could ever remember having. We ended up waking Mom and Dad up for some help which I am so grateful they were willing to give.
By the time I got cleaned up it was about 4:15 am. We had the impression that we needed to go down the mountain tonight to return back to our home. Mom and Dad gave me a bowl for the drive, they had everything packed for us so that we could leave as soon as we were done, and everything went smoothly. Dad and Tony gave me a blessing before we left and in the blessing, specifically we were told "you will get down the mountain without incident" which is something I really needed to hear! At that, we were off down the mountain. We had to stop three or four times because I started throwing up again, but there was no diarrhea on the ride down. It was a great tender mercy!
We got back to the apartment around 6:15 am where Tony tucked me into bed and we slept for a few hours. When we woke I felt absolutely awful! I have heard people say that they feel like they "got hit by a bus" and I would always ask how they would know that . . . I felt like I got hit by a bus!! My body ached, my head was pounding, I felt sick to my stomach, my stomach was cramping, it was just awful! I was hardly able to keep fluid in me and we were starting to get worried.
Around 3:00 pm (so 12 hours later) I started to get a fever. Tony put a cool washcloth on my forehead and rubbed cool water on my face and arms, but it would evaporate off within a few seconds. We got some Tylenol to see if that would help, but within the time that it should have worked my temperature went up. Tony deeply felt that I should go to the ER to get some help, so we did. Around 7:00 pm we ended up at the ER and we, fortunately, didn't have to wait long to get in to see some people!
They did several different tests to see if there was anything wrong and gave me an IV (which I apparently went through the one bag really fast). At first we thought they were just going to want the two samples (blood and urine) for their tests. After we had been there for about two hours a radiologist, Mike, came in and said that he was going to take me in for a CT scan. I could hear the worry in Tony's voice as he asked if he could come with me. It pained me to hear Mike tell Tony he was going to have to hang tight for five minutes. When I came back we waited another couple of hours for the results and the doctors to come in and tell us what was going on. Mom was able to come in, which I am so grateful for! I kept falling asleep mid-conversation, so I was really glad Tony had somebody there to keep him company.
The doctors came in around 10:45 pm and explained that the results showed that I probably had the norovirus that has been going around Nampa, but that it was causing some lower abdominal pain and then they said a lot of scientific things. In all I was sent home feeling slightly better due to having some liquid in me. I will be totally honest, I have never been so sick before in my life and it was really scary for me. It was even harder to watch my sweet husband want to do everything to make me feel better, and yet there really wasn't anything he could do.
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