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Luck of the Draw? Nah…

The other day I was talking to a friend about things…and she mentioned how lucky I seem to be. She rattled off a few examples of things that seemed to just plop in my lap, out of the blue, in some sort of mysteriously amazing good timing. She said she was frustrated that none of the ‘good luck’ seems to fall on her lap. I shrugged my shoulders and waved her off, because standing there I didn’t know quite what to say, or have the time to get into the deeper conversation I felt the subject warranted. But later, I couldn’t help but come back to that conversation and think about the idea of luck and coincidences.

Over the past few years, I’ve definitely pondered coincidences and God’s will. I know a lot of people who struggle to determine what God’s will for their life is, they question why bad things happen to good people and really question whether things DO happen for a reason or not. But for me, it’s been so clearly proven, it’s hard to dispute. I think back on our life since Matt’s stroke. It has been rife with trials, struggles, and times when I felt the lowest of lows. There were nights I lay next to Matt and cried silently…his body like a foreigner in the place that my closest ally once occupied. There were times when I looked at his face and struggled to find recognition in his eyes. There were long days filled with doctors, therapists, hospitals, medications, tubes, beeping monitors and zero privacy. I struggled with a profound feeling of just plain being lost. Everything I had known and loved about our life was stripped away that beautiful September afternoon. And I was left with shattered pieces of a life and no idea how long it would take to put back together…or IF it would ever somehow manage to even remotely resemble what it once was.

All I could do, was pray and hope that there was a plan at work, that our needs would be provided for, that the ‘peace that passes all understanding’ would eventually find its way into my heart. The way things have fallen in to place, piece by piece, these past 5years has been amazing; the steady stream of blessings that have found their way to us…too many to list. I attribute them all to the plan that God has for us.

This past week, Pastor was preaching about how you can take action/steps to put yourself into a place where God can work in your life. It got me thinking a lot about the blessings in our life and how they came to be. If Matt hadn’t taken a chance and decided to learn the cabinet industry with his Dad, he never would have made the connections that he made with men in the building business. Though George had many connections; I firmly believe it was because these men came to know Matt and who he was that touched them deep enough to want to help us with our desire to build a new house. Because they knew his character and that of his Dad’s…they wanted to help. They were touched by how Matt was living his life after his stroke. The determination, the faith, and the strength he showed on a daily basis. It moved them to want to help. And every day that I wake up in this beautiful house and every night when I come home to it, I cannot believe I get to live here. It is a blessing that we will never forget. We will never be able to fully express our gratitude to those men…and to God for putting them in our life.

I find that when I analyze them long enough…each of these seemingly lucky opportunities that come our way are linked similarly. At some point, we’ve established relationships with other people…who at one point or another have been touched by our story, our lives, or something about us and have reached out in some way to bless us. It’s a truly humbling thing, to really take any sort of inventory of blessings in your life. You quickly realize how undeserving you are, and the gratitude in your heart feels inadequate. But those people, those blessings, they are there for a reason…undoubtedly. It’s amazing when you see how intertwined our hearts and lives really are.

Comments

Emily said…
The best advice, given by the Wonderful Conselor: Love God with all you've got and treat others how you want to be treated. Follow it and you'll find all sorts of "luck" awaits. It won't keep this broken world from knocking you down sometimes, but you won't be alone to pick yourself back up. We can see it's working for the Karwoskis. :)
Matt and Emily said…
It's true, Em...the world can surely knock you down. There are no easy answers for why...but having help getting back up is truly divine.

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