When Life Throws Us Curve-Balls

Have you ever made a promise or a commitment to someone that you simply couldn’t keep? Did you feel burdened by guilt when you had to say you couldn’t fulfill that promise or commitment?

I know what a broken promise feels like because I’ve been in those shoes. Not just once but twice by the same person.

But if you’re the one who must break a promise or commitment, the weight of the guilt probably weighs heavily on you. That weight was felt by the person mentioned above.

If you’re like me, you know your heart is in the right place. You truly wanted to help. But sometimes unforeseen circumstances dictate what we can and can’t do.

UNEXPECTED HEALTH ISSUES

Though we’re in reasonably good health and we may look pretty good for being in our 70s, my husband and I have physical limitations that can’t be seen on the outside.

A couple of years ago after my bone scan, I was told not to do any heavy lifting, not to even shove a chair across the floor. At that time, my doctor advised me to be careful in how I put on my seatbelt as I could fracture my lower spine with that simple twisting motion.

In the past few months, my husband has experienced a lot of pain and issues in his left thigh. We figured he’d just pulled or strained a muscle. When it persisted and worsened, I convinced him to see the orthopedist. We were surprised to hear a diagnosis of arthritis in both hips. This is referred pain which commonly occurs with arthritis. While not currently necessary, hip-replacement looms in the future.

When Life Throws Us Curve-Balls @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #brokenpromises #curveballs Share on X

CURVE-BALL DEFINED

Life sometimes throws us curve-balls. In baseball, this is a pitch thrown with a strong downward spin, causing the ball to drop suddenly and veer to the side as it approaches home plate (Dictionary.com).

I’d say both of our issues came out of nowhere and brought us spinning downward and we had to deal with the issue by suddenly side-stepping off our planned path.

But God knew these things were coming. And He is the greatest Promise-Keeper of all time.

While we were caught by surprise, God was not and in His own way He prepared both of us with the gift of good common sense and knowledgeable people in our lives to guide us through both of these diagnoses.

DEALING WITH THOSE CURVE-BALLS

I’ve heeded the advice given to me for two years—most of the time. I’m much more cautious than before when it comes to moving in certain ways. I’ve added supplements which have helped improve my bone loss (I can’t take any of the medicines and even had a horrible allergic reaction to the newest, thought-to-be-safest bone loss injections). While my spine has improved by 4% in just a few months on the supplements, because of a recent injury to my leg, my femur has worsened a bit.

Hubby is doing the stretches and other things they gave to him, and he is far more careful about certain things than in the past.

Each of us separately and together rely on God to protect us and to be there with His healing hands as we travel these new paths. We pray daily for guidance and wisdom.

With that wisdom means that we can’t keep some promises we’d love to keep otherwise. But at this stage in our lives, we simply have to say I’m sorry to some things.

If this is you, know you’re in our prayers. We get it. As that saying goes, old age isn’t for sissies. Some things we simply must accept with as much dignity and grace as possible. Then, pray God will supply all our needs.

Blessings, y’all.

 

On a totally separate note: I had to switch browsers to pay for BH for this next year. I’m not a techie so this threw me a curve-ball. Having to switch to MS Edge has left me without the ability to post music here. I love doing that as I think music is a healing balm for most of life’s issues, including those curve-balls. Hopefully, my son will help me navigate this prior to next week. In the meantime, go listen to Waymaker. It speaks of Him being our Promise-Keeper.