No One Could Know

Oh sure, they say, “When life hands you lemons…” blah, blah, blah, but what do you do when those lemons are more like a meteor shower of fire and brimstone?

As the offspring of a gregarious mother and a father who literally says, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” before his feet hit the floor every morning, I consider myself somewhat of a “lemonade-making expert.” If you’ve read my book, you know that my life has not been a bowl of cherries, to use another fruity phrase. If only “life’s lemon trees” would have been wholly uprooted and replaced with a bed of roses when I dedicated my life to Christ. Unfortunately, those pesky lemons have a way of squirting me in the eye every once in a while. However, there’s always hope to be found in Christ.

Have you had a bad week? The seven days leading up to my amazing book signing at The Women of Faith Conference in Kansas City on August 23, 20 major things/changes happened in my life – 20! So I’ve been a little busy since The Barrage. The 20 lemon hail stones included:

1. When I stepped out of my seat in row 8 on the floor of The Sprint Center arena to go to my book signing, I received a text from my husband, Scott, telling me that the vet was at that moment putting our 5-year-old black lab to sleep.
2. My stepmom started cancer radiation treatment.
3. Another family member had major surgery.
4. My husband and I both started new jobs, and began attending a new church.
5. We left jobs/church filled with people who amaze us and fill our hearts with joy.
6. Our daughter started a new school in a new city.
7. We had TEN rooms in our house refloored…meaning EVERY room had to be cleared, cleaned, and refilled. I now concur with comedian Stephen Wright: You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?
8. The sewer did a U-turn into our basement.
9. Don’s Johns’ camera evidence mandated that we re-landscape after they had to dig up our yard.
10. While using our garden hose, the spigot broke, flooding a DIFFERENT room in our basement, and flooded back up into the air ducts in our basement, so I had to call a separate plumber. (Granted, I hadn’t dusted inside the air ducts for a long time, so they were due for a wash.)
11. Our daughter’s car needed a $700 repair. Thankfully no accident was involved, she’s safe and sound.
12. We are preparing to move to Council Bluffs, Iowa to help start another church campus. That’s a great thing, of course, but it comes with big hairy details, nonetheless.

And the list goes on. BUT, one of my favorite scriptures is, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” What do you do when you feel like your whole life is having the Band Aid ripped off at once? Don’t go it alone! I’m so relieved I can keep my eyes on Jesus, and off of the storm, knowing He’s already with me, leading me through to victory on the other side of the devil’s throwing all my toys on the floor.

The week did finish off with an INCREDIBLE book signing event for “No One Could Know” and I must thank all of you who stood in line – particularly those of you who waited for more than two hours for a copy! I appreciate you all and trust that you’ll enjoy the book, and share it with others. If you’re in despair, be encouraged to know that you truly can trust the Lord with your whole heart.

Seeing messages like these below make troubles fade just like lemons do the freckles on my face.

Amazon review August 31, 2014: 5.0 out of 5 stars Soul searching read, By Peggy
“Very engrossing and easy to read. It must have taken a great deal of courage for Kristan to share this story. The dark side of abortion is brought out into the open. This would be a good book for teenagers to read as they struggle with the teen years and all the life changing decisions that they make. It can apply to so many things that happen in a person’s life where God’s forgiveness and love are needed. Also the book is a reminder to each of us who don’t show compassion to those who are hurting and forget about the speck in our own eye.”

And messages like this on Facebook from August 31 solidify my purpose:

“Hey Kristan, I wanted to share some exciting news with you! I have a friend that came to me and told me she was considering abortion. She had no idea I’ve had an abortion, so I ended up sharing with her my story about my abortion and post abortion.
Anyways, she still wasn’t sure what she was going to do, so I decided to lend her your book and take a day or two to decide.
She then called me after 3 hours of reading your book and my story, that she was no longer going to have an abortion, but rather adopt her baby when due! So praise God that your book is changing lives and also saving lives!!!” –E

Thank you for your messages, what a blessing to know that God’s turned my mess into a ministry.

In His love,

Kristan