Triumph or Disaster

I can remember, as clear as day, the moment my daughter was born.  I remember the second I laid eyes on my newborn baby and gazed into her precious, tiny eyes and held her miraculous, tiny bundle of self in my arms. That day was one of my biggest Triumphs. I was a mom!
However, I can also recall three years later, sitting by her bedside for six days in the Pediatric ICU. There had been a mistake during a simple outpatient surgery and she was sedated and on a breathing tube. I remember how her tiny toddler body looked lying there in that huge hospital bed.  I can still see the tears roll down her cheeks each time the sedation started to wear off and she would wake up in fear. I can still remember the feeling that nothing in the world mattered at all except her waking up. That was one of my biggest Disasters.

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same. -Rudyard Kipling

Kipling calls both Triumph and Disaster impostors. Why? I believe it is because both of them take our eyes off our focus, they deceive us to believe that it is all about us and our circumstances and forget about the God who is over it all. In my own experience, I am sadly closer to God during my time of disaster. The reason for this is because during my time of triumph, I am so busy enjoying my life that I forget how much I need God. I think that many of us do the same. Then when the disasters come along, we remember and fall to our knees. Our relationship and faith in Christ become stronger. There are those disasters, however, that spiritual break us. Thankfully I have never had to face a disaster like I know others have. I have never lost a child or a spouse. I have never been penniless on the streets. I have never faced death myself. There are those that have. When those times come, it is easy to blame God for the circumstance or to lose faith in His very existence. It is possible to be in so much pain, that you cannot bring yourself to come to God with it. Or, you believe that God does not care.
This particular verse of this poem has always been a reminder to me of what our response should be in either situation. We are to treat those two impostors just the same. How are we to treat them? With praise and recognition of the God that is always in control and loves us dearly. In the times of Triumph we should remember to give Him the praise for what He has done.

He is the one you praise; He is your God who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Deuteronomy 10:21

And in the times of Disaster, we are to also give Him praise. The Bible tells us that after Job had lost everything dear to him in his life,

he fell to the ground in worship and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Job 1:20-21

After King David found out about the death of his newborn baby, it says,

After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped. 2 Samuel 12:20

Remember, whatever the circumstances you will face on your journey today, praise the Lord!