The year I turned 23 was probably the most frightening year of my life, but the year I turned 28 probably rivaled it for inner turmoil. In fact, even though when I look at old photos I realize that there were actually many happy moments, I still remember all the years between 23 and 28 as one long dark tunnel with no light at the end. God was continually testing me - and I failed everytime! At least that's what I felt like. (I was so screwed up I even wondered sometimes if God would kill me.)
Everything changed after my own "Marah" experience at the end of 1983 and, unlike Lemony Snicket's unhappy Baudlelaire children, I did eventually come to the light at the end of the tunnel.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. ) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."- Exodus15:23
Daughter #3 was a little shocked when she first learned her name meant "bitter". But I've always told her that the year of her birth was the year God turned my bitterness sweet. The circumstances remained much the same (difficult!) but my perception changed.
The Elliot Family in 1983
shortly after Mary was born
It helped to have some of Lemony Snicket's "true friends" urging us on from the sidelines. Thank God for friends who understand!
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