Life is not a snapshot

LIFE IS NOT A SNAPSHOT! 

And hold on cause there’s good for those who love God

Life is not a snapshot
It might take a little time but you’ll see the bigger picture.

Josh Wilson, Before the morning

A brief explanation to why I posted the lines in the lyrics of 
this song I love.

Life is not a snapshot. There are moments in life when you
feel, if anyone took a snapshot of what I'm going through 
right now, it would look really awful! Really.


I can't really complain. What I "suffered" today was not

persecution, torture, famine, a terminal disease or any of 
the serious afflictions a Christian may face. My tribulation 
was more annoying than anything else. But it was a real test 
(and stretch) on my patience muscles. 

And only God knows how to stretch those, to the point where 
we're just ABOUT TO suffer a mental breakdown including a 
serious fit of rage in public... God took me to the very 
limit of that... and then let go before I really made a 
fool of myself.
We're halfway through our dream vacation in Uruguay, a 
really amazing country not far from Argentina. We were 
invited by my mum and dad-in law, who rented a house for 
the summer. On the day we were leaving, my son had diarrhea. 
We got some meds to stop it (our trip was more than one day 
long, so we basically had no choice) and gave them 

to him. Too effective: three days later, no poop.


First night at a hotel on the way, uneventful. Second day, 
we arrive at our destination, son with very high fever. 
We call travel assistance, they give us an address. We had 
to wait quite a bit, but everything basically ran smoothly.
Thing is, four days and Ibuprofen-three-times-a-day later, 
our son still had fever, had cold symptoms, and his eyes 
looked irritated.
Another travel assistance call. Hospital crammed with 
people (11 children before mine) and only two pediatricians 
available. Two hours later, a doctor sees little Samuel. 
That part was really wonderful. A great professional. 
She ordered a couple of tests, we went to the nurse room

and then to the lab, and at the lab we were told we needed an
authorization for the tests.


Back to reception. Many people waiting. Receptionist calls
travel assistance and gets the "Why-are-they-ordering-this-
throat-test-if-the-patient-came-to-the-hospital-with-diarrhea?" 
response... 
Doctor had to be called and write a complete report on what 
she saw at her office. Then that report had to be faxed to 
travel assistance so they would fax the authorization 
(unbelievable, in times of scanners and email, some businesses
in the Third World still use faxes. I thought they were 
totally obsolete!). The receptionist says, Please sit down 
and wait. Ok. 
Carina waits for at least forty minutes and then stands up 
and asks, What about my authorization? And gets the 
"Sorry-I-faxed-it-but-then-the-faxing-failed-so-I-had-to-
fax-it-again-I'm-waiting-for-their-answer-now
-so-you'll-need-to-wait-some-more" response.
Imagine being told to wait after waiting four full hours.
Spending four hours of your precious and SHORT vacation
in a hospital waiting room, knowing full well your child 
has NOTHING serious and you could just as easily have 
waited it out having fun somewhere. If my inlaws hadn't 
insisted and my husband hadn't agreed (he's much more 
obsessive about Sami's health than me; I take a more 
relaxed and wait and see approach), there's no way we 
would have wasted an entire afternoon there.


Believe me, it's an absolute miracle I didn't lash out 
at the unfortunate lady right then. And to me it's an 
almost sure proof that I've really been born again 
because, believe me, the OLD Carina would have screamed
her guts out... 
And again, going back to the snapshot metaphor... 
This is the kind of thing I would have hated to 
experience before. I still hate it...
But my reactions have changed. I've been changed. 
Self-control was not in my vocabulary before. It is now. 
And in spite of being internally upset and wanting to 
relieve my annoyance by screaming, I didn't. 
I didn't insult the receptionist (or anyone else for that 
matter). 
I didn't insult my husband. Ok, I confess I used a couple
of expletives regarding the situation. But knowing my 
fleshly self, it could have been so much worse.
 

And all along I remembered the “All things work together for 
good to those  who love God” verse, which greatly 
encouraged me. 
Because I thought, Hey this little annoyance is conforming 
me to the image of Christ, and thus increasing the weight 
of glory in me. 
How awesome is that?
So should I complain about losing one day of vacation when 

lots of Christians are losing their lives over their faith? 
No way! But oh, it’s annoying… Yep, but we need to see the 

bigger picture. Or if we can’t, trust that this awfully 

nerve-wracking experience we’re going through somehow 

fits into the Plan.


I need more patience, so God gives me those patience-stretching
experiences. I hope I’ll get some time to rest those

muscles a bit after today!