If reading about faith\/prayer annoys you, you might want to skip this post\u2026<\/p>\n
I was talking with a friend on Friday. \u201cI prayed for you to have peace,\u201d she said, because she knew that I was having a hard time not worrying about Sean\u2019s dental surgery on his birthday tomorrow. Although I know that my close friends and family (who believe in prayer) are praying for Sean\u2019s surgery to go smoothly, I was especially comforted that my friend had thought to pray for me specifically. Now, I\u2019m having second thoughts. Here\u2019s why\u2026<\/p>\n
Saturday<\/strong> \u2013 We received a notice from the IRS that we owed them $5500 from errors in our 2008 tax filing. What?! <\/strong> (I had just figured out that we would be able to pay the $5,000 dental bill with this year\u2019s tax return and I was thinking, \u201cOh, I just might make it to Paris after all\u2026\u201d) After a deep breath and a prayer, I looked over the proposed discrepancies. Fortunately, the errors were on their part (one of my husband\u2019s past employees had submitted a 2007 W-2 in 2008. Fortunately, I had a copy of the 2007 and 2008 tax forms and such. Panic attack averted. (If anything, they owe me!) Peace.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Sunday<\/strong> \u2013 On the way to church, my husband asked me to see what a blinking light on the dashboard meant. After checking the manual, it didn\u2019t seem to be anything serious \u2013 he just needed to check the gas cap when we stopped. Wrong. All of a sudden the car stopped in the middle of the middle lane of the highway. No matter what he did, the car would not start up again\u2026even just to get us to the shoulder of the road. As the cars whizzed by on both sides of us, I did the fake mom smile\/soothing voice as I prayed for a car not to run into us. Later, my husband mentioned that a few had come close. Fortunately, the police came and barricaded us. They were motioning for us to move to the side. We\u2019re motioning back, \u201cWe can\u2019t.\u201d Fortunately AAA sent a highway tow truck who towed us home. This was my first time being in my car on the back of a tow truck. It was shaky and I kept praying that the car would not tip over with me and the kids inside. Parents are the best actors. I played it off by saying, \u201cOh, this is like an amusement park ride.\u201d In reality, it felt like we were hitting every bump. It was a shaky ride! Turns out that something is wrong with the transmission. We\u2019ll find out later this week since no one was available on Sunday to fix it. Peace.<\/p>\n Monday<\/strong> \u2013 Tomorrow, Sean will be having his surgery for three to four hours. I\u2019m just praying that everything will go smoothly and that the healing process will be as painless as possible. Even though I know that we are doing what is best for our little one, I am a mom. I would gladly change places with him to spare him any pain and discomfort. This parenting thing is definitely not for the faint of heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n In any event, I\u2019m considering having my friend change her prayer for me. The thing about peace is that it doesn\u2019t occur during easy times. It\u2019s simple to be \u201cpeaceful\u201d when life is going the way I like. True peace is when those unexpected \u201cstorms\u201d\/challenges of life reveal themselves. Can I still train my heart to be calm, trusting and still then? So far, I have been able to, but it is definitely not easy. <\/p>\n