We all have ideas from a young age about how our life may turn out, and about what our future may hold. One of the most common progressions is: you go to school, you then go to uni or start working somewhere, meet someone, get married, have a family, then retire.
It sounds fairly bland when you boil it down to that, but at the end of the day we do tend to make assumptions, even subconsciously, about what the future holds.
But what happens when things don’t turn out the way we expect them to? What happens when we encounter that ‘unexpected chapter’ in the ‘fairytale’?
What happens when you discover you have a fatal illness? Or an incurable disease? What happens when you don’t get married by age dot as you always thought you would, or find out you can't have children? What happens when your wife leaves you or your husband loses his job? How does it change your outlook on life? How does it change your priorities and your focus in life?
But the chapter doesn’t have to be a tragedy. Maybe it was an unexpected encounter, a serendipitous change of circumstances, something that came out of the blue and turned out to be a remarkably positive event in your life.
What has been the unexpected chapter in the fairytale for you?
Comments (1)
I decided to go along with my colleagues just before they left to donate blood at a mobile unit last May. The lady told me I was border- line anaemic and I said it must have been their instruments. The next Monday, a very nice man from the Blood Bank called and told me that I should see my GP as soon as possible. After visiting the haematologist a couple of weeks later, he rang and said I had chronic myeloid leukaemia.
As expected, we were all in shock. My youngest daughter, who has been difficult and tough, would come up and lie on my arm and ask what would happen. My son went into a downward spin and with his previous problem ended in the mental health hospital for a long stay in November. When I went into hospital in September with a spinal cord problem, he couldn't deal with it and self medicated with 'pot'. My husband was the rock and he just supported us all, albeit with a few cracks.
Here I am, over a year later, still sane and fairly healthy. God came through with his promise that He will be there when we need Him. I asked Him to take the sickness away, He didn't, not straigh away like I wanted but He gave me a way out. My type of leukaemia is treatable by a new drug and is now in remission. I lost most of my hair probably from stress and the initial short course of chemo but it has grown back nicely. My son is now fairly well on medicinal treatment and looking to seek work interstate.
There were tears, anxiety, anger and pain. I felt like someone pushed me down a big hole when my left side grew number and number, and though I may become cripple. The only thing I could hang on to, was God's promise that He would hear my prayer and He would not leave me. I did not want to go through the test and I beg for miracles. No blinding lights that heal but I hung onto Him with both hands so I won't sink, and He delivered. I realised I was lucky to know God and I could cry to Him. How does anyone go through such a calamity by themselves?
It is not to say I am a good and faithful servant, I try and fail everyday. I learnt that God works in His ways and not ours but we can rely on Him to take us through any challenges.
Posted by Nancy | August 21, 2007 2:00 AM
Posted on August 21, 2007 02:00