Tag Archives: #courage

Life’s Game of Chutes and Ladders®

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Raise your hand if you remember playing the game of Chutes and Ladders®? 🙋‍ I don’t remember playing it as a kid myself, but I do remember playing it with my own children when they were younger and now with the grandchildren. Up and down, up and down we go as we move around the game board. Elated, deflated. Elated, deflated.

Sounds a lot like the game of life, doesn’t it?

Elated to go to the Rec Center to watch my 8-year old grandson play some basketball. Deflated when I got to the parking lot after the game and saw a dent in my back fender because someone had backed into my car and didn’t leave their name.

Elated to be voted as Homecoming Queen by my peers during my senior year of high school. Deflated when mean girls let me know how they felt about it in extreme mean ways.

Elated to get hired as a professor during the pandemic. Deflated to learn I had moved to an incredibly small town (only to learn it was exactly what I needed – LR).

Elated to have a play date together with my children on my 30th birthday after a quick doctor appointment for my 4-year old daughter. Deflated when we were sent to the hospital for a week because she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

Elated to get an elementary principal position. Deflated when my School Board denied me a one-year leave of absence in case I disliked the new job (which I did because of unethical expectations and chauvinism).

Elated to be blessed with another beauiful granddaughter. Deflated when she had to have major surgery at 10-days old. (She’s doing wonderful now).

Elated to be a teacher of future teachers, loving them like my own children, and giving high fives freely. Deflated when I learned of a colleague saying I was a “phony.”

Life can be hard, can’t it? Really hard. I don’t know what chutes and ladders, ups and downs, elations and deflations you are facing today, but please know this…there is hope! The bible tells us we will have many trials and many sorrows here on Earth (John 16:33), BUT the Lord will deliver us from them all (Psalm 34:19). Whew, so thankful for that.

When life is hard, the good news is we have a God we can run to. He will take hold of our hand and help us (Isaiah 41:13). We just need to take His hand and trust in Him with all our hearts so we can keep moving forward (Proverbs 3:5-6).  

Isn’t it comforting to know we can handle the ups and downs, the chutes and ladders, the elations and deflations of life because we have God walking by our side? I plan to hold His hand and walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8) because I need Him through life’s chutes and ladders.

Stay Calm & Keep Moving Forward through Life’s Ups and Downs!
Profs Dr. Wendy & Dr. V.   

Undone: A Life Memoir

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BLOG Undone

One simple retweet by Michele Cushatt and my evening plans changed. I had intended to watch a little March Madness basketball on TV when I got home, but instead, I curled up on the couch with a blanket and the iPad all because of that one RT…

“RT @timdetellis: Started reading this new book by @MicheleCushatt It’s a page turner. http://t.co/dY4KIZ8pFf http://t.co/jKq1SR8751”

Clicked on those links, saw Michele’s new book Undone: The Story of Making Peace with an Unexpected Life, and had it downloaded to my Kindle app on my iPhone within minutes. Read on our drive home, read through basketball games and before bedtime, read this morning with a cup of coffee in my hand, then, finished the book after church. Just under 24 hours later, I put the iPad down, wiped away a few tears, and said a silent prayer for Michele.

A page turner, indeed, @timdetellis!

This book yanked on my heart strings. The story made me laugh; cry; hold my breath in fear (and I wasn’t the one scuba diving); miss my parents; think to myself ‘hey, I floss everyday too’; sing praises that I’ve had very few, if any, horrific challenges in life; share a few of the funny written words with my husband (‘holy two by four’); and thank Jesus over and over again for the life I’ve been given along with the unexpected gifts each day brings.

Michele’s life memories are weaved together so beautifully with scripture. As I read, I would often stop and ponder moments from my own childhood or the years of raising my children. Memories of a life filled with adventure, small challenges, and lots of love.

The way Michele pens her fears of the unknown put my heart in a vice-grip, and at times I couldn’t breathe. Uncharted territories of cancer, of an empty nest that disappeared in a blink, of raising a blended family and children with exceptionalities, of loss and grief, of losing a parent, and of almost losing herself.

I would say the book is a love story. A love story between two authors…the author of the book, and The Author of our faith. A love story between a husband and his bride. A love story between a mom and all six of her children. Their love grew and grew. Deeper and stronger as they all navigated the journey together. And together is always better.

Warning…if you choose to read this book it just might change you. Change your heart, change your thoughts, change your relationships, change your love of others, change your life! Go on…take the risk.

I’m so grateful that Michele received that precious gift on Mother’s Day back in 2006. That “twenty-by-fifteen inch package, give or take, wrapped hastily in recycled wrapping paper.” A special shout out to Michele’s husband for understanding his wife’s prized gift…the gift of writing.

Thank you for blessing us with this gift, Michele. Continued prayers for you and your family as you continue your life journey together. ~Wendy

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.