When your status gets out of control and you remember why you have a blog:

You know something that really encourages me? The fact that troubles in life prepare you for troubles in the future. Seems kind of silly to me. 

But tonight, as I tucked in my Fever Princess and felt that her little body is definitely warmer than normal, and turned on the humidifier for the third night in a row for Prince Respiratory, I realized that the calm I was expressing to them wasn’t masking a deep dread like it has so many times in the past. After almost 3 years of learning how to battle crazy fevers, and almost 2 years of learning how to use a humidifier, I have a slight idea of what to expect from sickness, and a much more definite idea of where the “okay now you can start feeling nervous” line is.

That is a real encouragement to me, because 1. I feel like I’m learning as a mother, which is always good, and 2. I can see how those sleepless nights have not been wasted.

One of my favorite characteristics of my Lord is that He never wastes anything. He makes everything beautiful in its time, and ALL things work together for good for His children.

My life has been good (especially compared to many), but there have been some very rough seasons. Moments like tonight are a sweet reassurance. Like my Father saying, “Yes, you can trust Me for a good ending. See how I have already programmed your brain to use what is bad and hard for good? How much more do you think I’ve prepared the whole universe to use the bad for good?”

And how much more so, since my bad experiences help me in other bad experiences, but in the end every bad experience will be used for a time when bad ceases to exist?!

Also, on a totally different note, how weird is it that my kids’ bodies fight the same virus/bacteria in completely different, yet consistent ways? Mary ALWAYS gets a fever (and it usually gets pretty high), and William ALWAYS gets a cough or heavy congestion. Mary will have a tiny bit of a cough, and William a tiny fever, but invariably they have their favorites and stick to them. So weird, but kind of convenient, I guess?