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The first two weeks of January left me quite literally knocked off my feet. We had just gotten over the flu in time to recover and enjoy Christmas when the awful cold virus that’s been going around our area hit our house shortly after the new year. First my boys came down with it, then it caught up to me. It turned into acute bronchitis and an ear infection for our one and a half year old, Caleb, requiring an urgent care visit, lots of medication and breathing treatments. I’m just grateful it wasn’t pneumonia and didn’t require x-rays or a hospital stay.
Now that we are on the road to recovery I’m realizing just how different the past two weeks were from what I planned for them to be. The truth is we don’t really expect set backs, sicknesses, or emergencies. We can put good systems and even emergency funds in place, but when it comes down to it these things always surprise us. I found myself feeling pretty bad for myself because I couldn’t spend the past two weeks planning out content, blogging, and writing because I was caring for sick kids then bed-ridden myself for a few days. I realize and am grateful that this was only a minor set back, but it has me reflecting on more major set backs and emergencies I’ve experienced in my life.
Maybe it’s a prolonged illness or injury for yourself or someone you care for or loss of a loved one. Can your business survive for a while without you needing to be functioning at your normal best? I learned this the hard way in 2014. I had been a full time photographer for only two years and our first, Noah, was only 17 months old at the time. My mother in law, Elaine, suffered a sudden and unexpected brain aneurysm in late May of 2014. I had three weddings booked three weekends in a row in June. I had a small network of photographer friends that I would have trusted to cover my weddings if the worst were to happen, but they all had their own weddings or portrait clients to care for, too. I felt the need to perform at my normal best, but I was at an all-time low. I didn’t have the systems in place at the time to relieve me from the menial tasks of running a business so that I could focus all of my (limited) energy on serving my clients well at their weddings and still having some energy left over to care for myself and my family. Praise God, Elaine made a full recovery from brain surgery and multiple procedures afterwards that were done to save her life. She even came home straight from intensive care on the day of my last wedding in June, about 4-5 weeks after her aneurysm.
I share this story for two main purposes. First, to encourage you to have good systems and plans in place for the unexpected. This is important whether you’re a business owner or not. And secondly, to tell you about what God taught me about grace during that time and is still teaching me through lesser emergencies like two weeks of seasonal illness. He is in control, is good, and can be trusted even when things don’t go according to our plans. We need to extend grace to ourselves when we cannot perform at our normal best and trust that He will multiply our efforts to provide for us and others. Sometimes unexpected things happen to redirect our focus off of our own pursuits and back onto God… and that is actually GRACE. God’s grace in the thwarting so that our hearts are ever fixed on Him. That’s His best for us and the greatest treasure in this life.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.
Praying blessings and lots of grace over you this week!
Warmly,
Jenna
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Hmm it seems like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I&2;71#8ll just sum it up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any helpful hints for first-time blog writers? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Hi Latoya! I’m sorry that your first comment didn’t save. Thank you so much for your encouragement! I’ve been blogging sporadically for five years. The best thing I can suggest is that if God has called you to write, just write :) He will direct your steps. I’ve learned along the way (and am still learning) about SEO and helpful apps and widgets to make a blog more user friendly. You can find almost anything on google and youtube to learn how to do things better.