This verse from the book of Joel has been a comfort these last several months. Life has been a slog; the six of us have struggled more than the average bear. Before this season, I thought only one kid would be “swarmed by locusts” at a time. Now I know that isn’t true, and as the mom I will stretch out my own ravaged arms and heart to help keep my family’s devastation under control.
But.
(There’s always a but, right? How often do we write about trial in the thick of it, sharing our trouble before we’ve found/gotten/had a way out?)
But. My older son has had some sunshine and while some of us continue to slog, I am so so grateful for the warmth of those rays. He bought a car back in March, a bright spot in a considerably dark, swarming locust kind of season, but that light was quenched directly when he discovered the car needed a new engine, that it wasn’t safe to drive. Several months, a file in small claims court, a court date (during which my seventeen year old son represented himself against a bully of a man) and a few days wait after the ruling, and Gabe got most of his money back while the previous owner dragged the car away.
Days after that, another car- better than the first in so many ways (most importantly, that it runs safely)- basically fell into my son’s lap. He’s changing the oil in it as I type, the smile on his face when he drives it similar to how my husband smiled when we brought Gabe home from the hospital all those years ago. When we talked about this unexpected turn of events, Gabe agreed that this felt like God’s provision for him in this season. If that isn’t God speaking in a way that a teenage car-adoring boy hears, I don’t know what is.
So while several of us are still being ravaged by some pretty fierce swarming locusts, I rejoice in the smile on my son’s face, in God’s (sort of superficial in the grand scheme of things, but incredibly important to him in this season) provision. This restoration comes for him after being on the bad end of a prank that went too far, watching friends betray, slander and walk away, after a sports fiasco and a job prospect rejection. I’ll take this as a win. Thank You, God.