The Fridge Only Breaks When You're Already Broke

Why is it that good and bad things seem to come in waves together? It's Christmas time, a wonderful, time of year to think of Jesus Christ and celebrate his birth and life; but also a time of year we seem to find it necessary to spend all kinds of money on our loved ones. Whether that practice is right or wrong, with 6 kids, even limiting the amounts we spend, it adds up to quite a sum pretty quickly.

This Christmas I missed a few hospital shifts to work on midwife related things in the valley, and missed a few more thanks to a combination of being sick and low patient census at the hospital, and so our budget was already tight, very tight. As it was we kept trying to figure and re figure how much money we might be able to spend on our children, and how soon we might be able to spend it, hoping that we wouldn't be stuck buying last minute presents on Christmas Eve.

Then, just when we had paired down our budget and figured we could make it work and still pay bills on time, wham! Broken Refrigerator! I could not believe it. A Fridge is a necessity in our house, as in most homes today. Living out of ice chests lasted for all of about 2 days, when we decided that a new gently used fridge would have to be priority.

We had already explained to our kids that Christmas would be lean this year thanks to the purchase of our beautiful new homes. So, they were only a little surprised when we said "Merry Christmas everyone, your present is a new fridge!" The little kids were quite excited, however, the older ones were not so amused. Then, wouldn't you know it, my Mom's car broke down.

Now, just as bad things seem to congregate, so do good things. We kept our chins up, we kept praying and thanking Heavenly Father for the many things we were still blessed with, food to eat, clothes to wear, a job, our running vehicles, our overall good health, a beautiful home, a mom/grandma that now lives walking distance away, and our faith.

Then, just as quickly things started to look up. We found a great gently used fridge for a fair price. My brothers are all pitching in to help fix my mom's car. Yesterday, just at the opportune moment when I could answer my phone at work in a quiet location, it rang. It was a new midwife client who I will be meeting with next week.

Today, Beeville hospital was low census again, and did not need me, but a hospital in Corpus did. I took the opportunity to sleep a little longer, but slept just a little too long, and was running about 5 minutes late for work. As I drove to work, before I could even slow down, each stop light turned green for me. It felt almost magical, and definitely seemed to be a blessing from Heavenly Father as I managed to clock in 1 minute before 7am. I had a wonderful day at work, working on a floor with nurses and aids I feel very comfortable with, and felt as though I was back home again. We have also figured out a way to buy a few gifts for our children, so our home and the fridge are not the only Christmas gifts this year after all.

So, why is it that the Fridge only breaks when we are already broke? I guess part of it is to see how committed we are to Heavenly Father and to believing that he is watching out for us and blessing us in all things, even our afflictions. It is so easy to moan and groan and complain when these things happen, but so important to choose not to murmur, and instead praise God in all things. When I choose to turn more fully to him in my problems, he teaches me so many lessons that stay put deep in my heart, because there is emotion tied to them. I think my attitude needed some fixing, and a broken fridge, along with other financial struggles did just the trick.