You can tell a lot about a person by how he or she responds when something bad or upsetting happens.
April was a tough month for me. My car was broken into and I broke my left pinky finger. I have responded a million times better to my stuff being stolen than I am to breaking my finger and it isn’t too difficult to figure out why.
All year I’ve been saying many prayers of thanksgiving. I am so blessed with wonderful family, boyfriend, friends, a job I love, my ever-growing faith in God’s plan, good physical health, and financial security to be able to afford some of life’s luxuries such as eating out, etc. I ended this prayer with “God, even if I didn’t have any of these things, I would ask that you help me to remember to always be thankful for my faith in you, for your plan, for this life you’ve given me to do you will.”
Then in the beginning of April my car was broken into at Flannagan’s in Dublin. Four of the most amazing friends were with me while I waited for the police with plenty of hugs, and kind words. Nick, Heather, Eric and Dale, I can’t thank you enough for being so supportive that evening!
I got home that night around 11:30 pm and wrote an email to everyone I know to be careful with leaving stuff in their car. The responses I received were amazing, ”Wow thanks I leave stuff in my car all the time – thanks for the reminder”, “I forwarded your email to others and I’m so sorry you are dealing with this!” I even received a call from the owner of Flannagan’s personally apologizing and explaining the actions he planned to take to prevent this from happening again. Through those few days I was constantly praying, thanking God that it was only stuff and that no one was hurt. Asking for his guidance and His strength to help me deal with the hassle of calling banks, filing insurance and getting my car fixed.
Then I broke my finger. And I’ve done nothing but whine and complain about the pain and inconvenience it is causing me. And the difference – I haven’t prayed at all about it. I’ve been so self-focused that I couldn’t get out of my “why me” cycle. And then I read this blog: http://dougslove.blogspot.com
The President of Heritage Makers, Doug Cloward, was diagnosed this past week with leukemia. His blog is overwhelmingly full of positive messages, hope, love, inspiration, faith in God - wow. How humbling for me to see his response to such an upsetting diagnosis.
I’ve only been a part of the Heritage Makers family for 2 months now, but Doug’s blog reaffirms why I believe in this company, it’s mission, and it’s values. Thank you Doug for the reminder and example you are setting of how to handle tough situations with grace, humility and tons and tons of faith.
