When I first fell about three weeks ago, my whole body was screaming with the worst pain I’d ever felt. I wanted more than anything to die. Throughout my agony in the hospital I cried and prayed for Jesus to please come take me Home and rescue me from this ordeal. Having already fallen flat on my face from a dead faint onto a hardwood floor back in November and miraculously only suffering painful bruising, a black eye, and bloody nose, then losing Mama and my precious sister Nancy, enduring vicious migraines every day, and fierce tension knots, I felt like this new affliction was the last straw. No way did I want to face this new trial.

~~Unlike King David, the man after God’s own heart, who, when God put through a dark trial, he faithfully prayed,

No, I was not good like David, for the very last thing I thought of was praising the Lord in my pain, alas. I screamed in bitter agony.

The Bible says that the dead praise not the living God, however He seeks a people who will praise and glorify Him despite their trials.

I learned that if I truly love the Lord I would endure despite the pain and continue to trust Him believing He will come through in the end. By His Almighty grace, I have determined to seek for ways that I can praise Him during this trial.

For His Word tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

One thing I will praise the Lord for is giving me such a wonderful husband. Ever since I fractured my humerus I’ve had to rely on Mark for assistance in doing everything ~~even doing my hair. Mark finds this task quite difficult and I must admit he has a gift for making really bad hairstyles. They are so awful that they are hilarious and make me laugh. I wish I had been documenting these crazy styles. Even JJ, our Yorkie, noticed him fixing my hair one day. Her little black eyes seemed to pop as she suddenly halted and hopped fast backwards out of the room, We both wish we could’ve documented her reaction on video.

Well, the night he made my hair look like I was wearing an ice bag, I could not stop laughing. I then said, “Honey, can’t you just manage a simple braid?”

I texted a friend about the issue. She told me that her daughter was really gifted at braiding hair and had her own website dedicated to braiding, and she gave me the URL.

I told Mark and sent him to the website. “Here is your chance, honey. Study her techniques and you will soon be braiding my hair!”

I was hopeful as I saw him intently studying two of the braiding videos. But when I noticed how complicated the braids were my heart sank.

Sure enough he soon gave up overwhelmed. Closing his laptop he looked at me and said, “You have two chances for me to ever braid your hair~ fat chance and no chance!”

I pouted. Why could he not have just chosen a video on how to do a simple braid?

Well, the next day the home health care nurse who comes to help me wash my hair and bathe said that she used to run her own hair braiding business on the side till she had her baby!

Would I like for her to braid my hair? She gave me two long beautiful French braids on either side of my head!

Here was my loving God giving me a chance to replace Mark’s fat chance and no chance!

How I praise Him for showing me His love and mercy in that special way!

And that wasn’t the end of the story either.

The next morning my Occupational Therapist came and wanted to braid my hair. She did a beautiful job. Once again, God demonstrated His love and mercy sending two people to braid my hair!

The dead praise not the living God but I will praise Him for these special ways He blessed me.

And the praising for His amazing blessings does not end there.

We went to the orthopedic doctor for a check up and while she did not see a great deal of improvement in the fracture as it was huge; she said it was going to take time and to be patient; after testing me she said I had no nerve damage!

This was very encouraging to me! She said with this kind of injury they sometimes see nerve damage in the hand so it was very good that I had none.

Glory to our wonderful God!

And today after Mark had graced me with another awful hairstyle last night that was truly hilarious, I went into the bathroom and prayed to be able to braid my own hair.

And God be praised~ He really helped me do it ~despite my broken arm!

Fat chance and no chance are God’s chances in the eternal realms of the Almighty.

“Lord, You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!”

Psalms 30:11-12 NLT