Lent...

... a time of pennance, repentence and self examiniation. Also known as a time of torture! I have had people talk about how they dread Lent as it is usually a very difficult time. This year just before Lent, as many of you know, we had a local group of guys accidently remove an item and sell it to the metal yard for scrap when this item was actually worth at least 2000 dollars for us. My thought was at the time, well - this is only a short patch. We seem to have them every three or four months. I will just hold on for this roller coaster ride and soon it will smooth out - it always does.

In sharing this piece of bad news with a friend one of her comments was; "Well - I always find Lent very hard for some reason. "
I was horror struck. Lent is FOURTY days long and I quickly rejected the thought that this string of bad luck could last 40 days until my husband reminded me that the past two Lents have been just like how this one started.
I have learned to stop asking - "SO just how BAD can it get. What else can go wrong?" as I have found that is ONE question God consistently answers for us.
But even though I have not asked that question more has indeed gone wrong. I will spare you the details but suffice to say - all that has passed in the last 24 hours has been emotionally painful, humiliating and exhausting.

Next year I think I will try to find a way to hide in a dark cave...maybe somewhere in the wilderness with a dozen loaves of bread and several jars of honey and wait out Lent there. I open to suggestions to any favorite caves you may know of. In the meantime.. prayers continue to be gratefully accepted.