Grit.

Did you know that chickens don’t have teeth, and so they swallow small pebbles to grind the food they eat in order to digest it? Chickens who don’t free-forage need to be feed grit, either these small white rocks or oyster shells. It’s actually fascinating to think about. This really unpleasant, solid, indigestible object helps the chicken survive by grinding up the thing they need most, food. They take the unpleasant and indigestible and grind up the life-giving stuff so it can be used. You know where I’m going with this, right?

We had a really crappy year. I’m going to tell you how it went, and I don’t share this to get sympathy. I share it first because it’s quite comical and second because it serves a purpose!

Rewind to August 2017, with a car accident while 35 weeks pregnant. Then a rather traumatic birth of our son in October 2017 and a large, unexpected hospital bill. And then our sewer broke two weeks later costing $4000. Then, another car accident in December. And then my husband lost his job 2 weeks before Christmas. The New Year came, and Luis was denied unemployment. And then the radiator on our Jeep broke and cost $1300. Rejection, after rejection after rejection on my husband’s job hunt. We caught a little break March-July 2018 when unemployment was finally approved and we got back pay. However, Luis was struggling on passing the tests he’d been studying for, causing a delay in employment. July comes, and I begin to develop debilitating plantar fasciitis. By September, I can barely walk during the day or even grocery shop. September hits and we find out our car needs $10,000 worth of work. So we have to buy a new car… with no money. This saga finally ends with another car accident in our new-to-us car.

You can’t make this stuff up. It’s hilarious. Honestly hilarious. But all of what has happened in the last 16 months has been grit we needed to swallow. All of this stuff has helped to grind up the life-giving parts God has gifted us, and make it into a usable form. The unpleasent, indigestible parts of life has given us strength and character. It has given us life.

We swallowed alllllllll that grit. And you know what? We’re stronger, more capable because of it. Like the chicken, we didn’t let our food just sit in our belly because we couldn’t chew it. No. We ground that stuff up and made it work for us. We’re coming to the end of this dramatic comedy with a masters degree, a new career, less debt with credit scores in the 800s, more discipline, more tenacity, more faith, more reliance on God, and most of all, JOY in God’s work within out hearts.

Do you have food sitting in your belly, waiting for the grit?