Pulling out some old files today I ran across a certificate entitled “The Association of Hardy People”, signed by the Mayor and the Weather Man in Grande Prairie Alberta, in 1968 and it says…
“_____________( name of survivor)
“Having survived 43 consecutive days of frigid temperature in the winter of 1968-69 and having done so with resourcefulness and valor, preserving life and limb, has earned the right to membership in this Association.”
The first date on the list is December 22nd at -24 C., and then it goes on each day until the 28th at -41C, (a 3 day respite for January 2/4 and 5) then continues with figures like -36, -30, -30, -41 and on the 18th,/19th and 20th respectively -44, -47, -46 etc. etc. on to the 28th at -53, on the 29th at -47, and on the 30th of January -52.
It was a winter I will never forget!
I think most seniors could write up a schedule of their own lives like that. There would be some triumphs and some tragedies …things like the loss of a child, a divorce, terrible illness, death of a spouse. These did not all happen to me but in sharing with my ladies Bible Study group, there are many tragedies that have touched their lives.
Funny, if we could have seen that list ahead of time we would have said “No way, no way can I handle that!.” Yet, with God’s grace you do. He picks you up and dusts you off when you stumble and fall.
As the years roll by, more and more I acknowledge His grace in so many incidences …both large and small and I praise Him for his faithfulness.
Recently I said goodbye to an old friend who had lost her husband to cancer and also took on the roll of raising her grandchildren. I said “You must be very strong…God is merciful and would not test the weak in the same way.”
Sometimes we don’t know our own strength, or what I should say is sometimes we don’t begin to recognize the strength of God. The happy times are easy but when the going gets tough…that’s when we find what kind of a Saviour we truly have.
