the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

I loved the story of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  It was one of my favorites.  It begins with Alexander waking up to find he has gum in his hair, and things just get worse from there.  Alexander wishes that he could live in Australia, but at the end of the story, his mother assures him that even people in Australia have bad days.

The last two days have felt like Alexander days for me.  The morning began with a forty minute drive to Dinuba to see a new doctor for all my troubles.  We arrived, took a seat, waited fifteen minutes, then were told that the doctor had to leave for a delivery, at which point we rescheduled, departed, drove another forty minutes, then arrived home.  The day went on and a toothache began to develop.  By evening it was unbearable, so today, after going to the doctor's office for the second time and being told there's nothing new for me to do, I went to the dentist and found out I need a root canal, among other terrible things.

In between the two sad appointments, we rushed my car (which wouldn't start on Sunday) to Tulare to get a new battery, also the second time we had to do that since the first time they were out of batteries.  After the dentist appointment, I attended a three hour planning meeting at my new school...while suffering through the pain from my poor tooth...and found out the classroom I have spent the last week working on isn't even the room in which I'll be teaching.  My hair stylist canceled my appointment tomorrow and can't get me in for another two weeks, and on Saturday, I'll spend my entire afternoon having a root canal performed.

It really has been terrible, horrible, no good, and very, very bad.

But then tonight, as I was staying home from Elevate to nurse my wounds, a new student from church called and said last night he gave his life to Christ.  He said he thought about all the sacrifice Jesus did for him, and he knew he wanted to live for a God like that.  He wanted to surrender it all, and so he did.

My tooth still aches, and things haven't gone as I had hoped or planned, but God is so good.  I don't like or understand the pain in our lives, but I'm reminded that God draws us close in our pain and becomes our mighty healer.