God Bless The Broken Road

First of all, the photo credit for the picture I used in my blog title ... Photo by J.D. Lasica (1988) I found it on this website when I searched for pictures of sheep.

It's a line from a Rascal Flatts song:

"God bless the broken road, that led me straight to you."

And you could say I've been on a broken road. A road that started out pretty great, straight and true, heading straight towards the Lord. Then my life filled with changes, moving countries (Wales to England), leaving my family behind, leaving my familiar church behind, coming to a strange town, full of strangers, becoming a wife, becoming a mother ...

And then the challenge really started, and not only did the road 'break', with the lovely, smooth tarmac erupting into a never ending series of potholes, but I ended up losing the path completely for a while there.

My daughter (Seren) was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and then so was my son (Dylan), when he came along 26 months later. I developed post natal depression, which turned into 'reactive depression' as I tried to care for my two children and their extra needs. And I struggled with living so far from my parents at such a time, especially as my Dad is disabled, and has been battling with his Ankylosing Spondylitis since the late 90's. And I lost my grandfather to brain cancer in 2007.

But through those tough times, I did try to find my way back onto the path a few times, and I kept praying. But then, when my father was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in early 2008, and his still-continuing cancer battle began, I felt myself begin to fill with anger, and struggle to keep my admittedly dwindling faith.

And when we were told in January 2009 that my father's cancer wasn't curable anymore, that the doctors were just going to try and control it, the anger took over completely, and I found it difficult to even pray anymore.

But just last month, God made His move to bring me closer to Him again. Thank you Lord!

And, after making a promise in church today to make the effort to speak about my faith, I started this blog to chronicle my journey 'back into the fold'.

This lost sheep has found her way back to the path.

Photo credit: Sheep lamb - pdphoto

I have a long way to go, and a lot of learning to do, but oh, what a journey it's going to be!