More Than A Pay Check

By Irene Budzynski 

 

My husband had lost his job the week before and we were in shock, unable to clearly assess the financial damage. With three sons to raise, I was also a new nursing school student, so my mind was focused on studies and keeping a tight schedule.

 

Then began the night which turned our lives upside down, I drove to the school where my 12 year old son was finishing swim team practice. Pulling up to the driveway, flashing lights on an emergency vehicle signaled that there was a problem. Waving her arms wildly, a woman shouted to me, "There's been an accident. Your son needs you."

 

Cooling down after practice, Daniel had taken one last dive and his neck had struck the bottom of the concrete pool. Now he was being strapped onto a board, his neck in a brace, paramedics readying him for the ambulance ride to the hospital. Our son had sustained damage to C-3, C-4, and C-5 vertebrae of his spine. Two fusion operations followed and the surgeon was successful in preventing paralysis, but we were overwhelmed! Months had passed, unemployment was still our companion, and we needed to make a decision.

 

Daniel would be recuperating at home for months. If I left school my loans would have to be repaid, immediately increasing our debt. If my husband stayed with him I could continue my studies as well as work at three part time jobs to offset some of the staggering bills. We opted for the latter, and the blessings followed. Our headstrong son and his impatient father developed an unshakeable bond which had eluded them in the years of "making a living." My husband learned how to wash the hair of a child who wore a neck brace, cooked meals, and helped Daniel with his studies.

 

Daniel 's behavior changed as he was forced to become dependent, and he learned to discuss problems without the inevitable argument. Father and son cemented their relationship with mutual respect and love.

 

Our financial situation was scary, but the overwhelming goodness of friends and strangers prevailed. When there was no wood to heat the house, a cord of oak for the woodstove appeared on our driveway the next day. Groceries were delivered, and we became innovative in "making do" with what we had. At the end of a long winter, my husband found a job. We had spent every available dollar and there wasn't enough food to last the week. As we had throughout the period of trial and tribulation, we thanked God for His goodness, knowing He wouldn't abandon us.

 

The mail that day included a check for $100. Attached was a note stating, "I wrote this check to you several months ago, but put it into a book by mistake. It fell out of the book when I was dusting the shelf and I had the feeling that you might be needing it. God bless you."

 

Yes, He did indeed bless us in the form of all the good people who had come into our life. Unemployment gave my husband the time to care for his beloved child, a time when he was able to become the father which he so dearly wanted to be.

 

“For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.” -1 Samuel 12:22