Christ_empowered
Member
- Oct 23, 2010
- 14,240
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My mother has been through hell. I put her thru hell starting in my teen years. I mean, whenever you're dealing with wretched people, there's a backstory, but I was fairly bratty and terrible until first a Christian rehab program and then I got genuinely, bona fide (no, really!) saved. Its a Know Jesus, Know Change kind of situation.
So, this Christmas, she's upbeat. She's happy. This is amazing, especially considering how rough her job has been on her. Oh, and she's almost through with all that, praise God (!!!). God willing, she'll be outta the jobby job this summer, breezing into retirement!
I wasn't the only one who put my (long suffering, sweet, woderful) mother thru hell. She works in a white collar job with other well-educated people, which is supposed to be awesome, but...wow. Office politics are brutal, and it seems that they never stop, not really. I know that any job has politics, but her job's politics have been vicious at times, and she's made it through, anyway, by God's grace.
My teenage rebellion put a hurtin' on my parents' bottom line. I didn't get it, of course. I was 17, probably had some physical health problems, socially isolated, hurt, angry, confused, and...well, every unrepentant wretch has a backstory, like I said. My people have been good to me even when it hurt them at all levels, and now The Good Lord has changed me, so I don't bring them shame, pain, humiliation, bitterness, anger, etc. God is good!
On the plus side, mama got this state retirement thing where if you stay in for a couple years after you could have retired (lets call it "going into overtime"), you get your salary plus extra $$$ in some kind of special account. Clearly, I don't know much about this, but I want to praise God for that program, because now she already has 1 year's salary in this account and she's still working, so she'll get a bit more $$$ by the time she's outta there. God has been very good in this regard, because the state pulled that program not too long ago, so she got in before the budget cuts put an end to it.
So, basically, even though I was a horrible offspring and did terrible things, I'm now living with my people and making some progress in my own life. Meanwhile, their marriage is better, they have more re$ources, so they don't stress as much, and I get disability, so they don't have to fork out $$$$ to keep me going and pay for my mental health stuff.
They even managed to sell off the apartment I'd been living in fairly recently. I don't think they made a huge profit or anything, but it certainly didn't hurt their bottom line. The little house they bought is still on the market. For now, its also being rented out, which covers their expenses plus a tiny bit extra.
God has been good to all 3 of us. I'm blessed to have my people. I'm blessed to be alive, to be healthy, to be increasingly, remarkably normal. My mama loves me deeply, and loved me even when I was angry at her for stupid, adolescent reasons. She loved me even when I was bitter and broken, both because of my own sins and because of the sick community we live in.
I ask that you join me in praising The Lord for my mother. She's a good woman and a good mother, worker, wife, etc., and life hasn't always been that great for her. As a child, she lived in poverty. I don't know how poor they were, but it wasn't good times, and she doesn't like to talk about her family very much, so there's a backstory there. Her family was poor, but her dad's family wasn't, so that added an extra level of fun times to the situation. She managed to get up out of poverty and get an advanced degree and all that stuff, and sometimes she says she wishes she'd just stopped at the undergraduate level and managed a restaurant.
Turns out, these "tolerant" and "progressive" liberals around here are snobby and intolerant and can be straight up vicious. I dunno. There are no perfect jobs, just jobs, and everybody ends up somewhat disillusioned, and The Lord has been good to all 3 of us, but it still hurts me. And I feel ashamed for who I was, the things I did, the things I said, etc.
Ugh. I've rambled. I'm just happy to see my mother happy, happy to see my dad feeling better, happy to be living with them, at peace, no major problems, no icy, cold distance between us. Its a miracle, the whole thing is a Miracle, and we all 3 needed a miracle.
Now that I've rambled, please join me in praising God for His unending goodness towards us. Please also pray that God will keep us together as a family and bless my parents for all they've been through, all the dark and painful years.
As always, thank you for your time+prayers.
So, this Christmas, she's upbeat. She's happy. This is amazing, especially considering how rough her job has been on her. Oh, and she's almost through with all that, praise God (!!!). God willing, she'll be outta the jobby job this summer, breezing into retirement!
I wasn't the only one who put my (long suffering, sweet, woderful) mother thru hell. She works in a white collar job with other well-educated people, which is supposed to be awesome, but...wow. Office politics are brutal, and it seems that they never stop, not really. I know that any job has politics, but her job's politics have been vicious at times, and she's made it through, anyway, by God's grace.
My teenage rebellion put a hurtin' on my parents' bottom line. I didn't get it, of course. I was 17, probably had some physical health problems, socially isolated, hurt, angry, confused, and...well, every unrepentant wretch has a backstory, like I said. My people have been good to me even when it hurt them at all levels, and now The Good Lord has changed me, so I don't bring them shame, pain, humiliation, bitterness, anger, etc. God is good!
On the plus side, mama got this state retirement thing where if you stay in for a couple years after you could have retired (lets call it "going into overtime"), you get your salary plus extra $$$ in some kind of special account. Clearly, I don't know much about this, but I want to praise God for that program, because now she already has 1 year's salary in this account and she's still working, so she'll get a bit more $$$ by the time she's outta there. God has been very good in this regard, because the state pulled that program not too long ago, so she got in before the budget cuts put an end to it.
So, basically, even though I was a horrible offspring and did terrible things, I'm now living with my people and making some progress in my own life. Meanwhile, their marriage is better, they have more re$ources, so they don't stress as much, and I get disability, so they don't have to fork out $$$$ to keep me going and pay for my mental health stuff.
They even managed to sell off the apartment I'd been living in fairly recently. I don't think they made a huge profit or anything, but it certainly didn't hurt their bottom line. The little house they bought is still on the market. For now, its also being rented out, which covers their expenses plus a tiny bit extra.
God has been good to all 3 of us. I'm blessed to have my people. I'm blessed to be alive, to be healthy, to be increasingly, remarkably normal. My mama loves me deeply, and loved me even when I was angry at her for stupid, adolescent reasons. She loved me even when I was bitter and broken, both because of my own sins and because of the sick community we live in.
I ask that you join me in praising The Lord for my mother. She's a good woman and a good mother, worker, wife, etc., and life hasn't always been that great for her. As a child, she lived in poverty. I don't know how poor they were, but it wasn't good times, and she doesn't like to talk about her family very much, so there's a backstory there. Her family was poor, but her dad's family wasn't, so that added an extra level of fun times to the situation. She managed to get up out of poverty and get an advanced degree and all that stuff, and sometimes she says she wishes she'd just stopped at the undergraduate level and managed a restaurant.
Turns out, these "tolerant" and "progressive" liberals around here are snobby and intolerant and can be straight up vicious. I dunno. There are no perfect jobs, just jobs, and everybody ends up somewhat disillusioned, and The Lord has been good to all 3 of us, but it still hurts me. And I feel ashamed for who I was, the things I did, the things I said, etc.
Ugh. I've rambled. I'm just happy to see my mother happy, happy to see my dad feeling better, happy to be living with them, at peace, no major problems, no icy, cold distance between us. Its a miracle, the whole thing is a Miracle, and we all 3 needed a miracle.
Now that I've rambled, please join me in praising God for His unending goodness towards us. Please also pray that God will keep us together as a family and bless my parents for all they've been through, all the dark and painful years.
As always, thank you for your time+prayers.
