Excellent wife: Keeping your head above water


Recently I watched the movie“Sully” about the Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who successfully landed his plane on the Hudson River, saving the lives of 155 people. When the crash investigators examined the crash, they strongly believed that Sully could have turned the plane back and safely landed at LeGuardia airport. Sully told the investigation that it would have been impossible. In their attempt to prove him wrong they re-run the crash using computer simulations and sure enough, both the computer simulations and the simulations using pilots all said he could have returned to the airport. 

However, when Sully watched the pilots reenacting the accident on the simulation he asked “how many times have they done this”, Sully was told the pilots had practiced 17 times before they did the “real-test” simulation. Sully replies:

No one warned us. No one said "You're going to lose both engines at a lower altitude than any jet in history. But, be cool, just make a left turn for LaGuardia like you are going back to pick up the milk". This was duel engine loss at 2800 feet followed by immediate water landing with 155 souls on board. No one has ever trained for an incident like that. No one. 

Life is like this, we get no warning when things are about to go wrong — our lives are running smoothly and we are feeling pretty good—then suddenly we hit "birds" and everything goes pear shaped and often we don't have the opportunity to go back and have another go. 

It can be hard to keep our heads above the water. 

When we become mothers and wives we generally have had no practice or experience but are expected to know what to do. We may have had some training from our mothers on how to cook or manage a home but it isn’t until we have our own homes do we realise we don’t really know very much. We may have read many a book on child-rearing—BUT nothing prepares us for the real thing, especially when we are sleep deprived. We don’t get lots of practices runs, we dive in head first and start swimming as fast as we can to keep our head above water. For new mothers, you are suddenly responsible for a precious life and you are meant to know what to do. 

When a crisis hits, you receive no warning and often you have little time to react. Like Sully, none of us have ever trained for all the incidents that can occur when bringing up children or during a marriage, but regardless we are still meant to get through it in one piece. 

Some women just seem to manage — however, not all do and there are many that struggle alone and don’t ask for help (perhaps because they have no one to ask or feel too embarrassed). For some it is so hard, the marriage falls apart and it all ends sadly. Very few couples divorce for the fun of it, most divorces are messy and painful and those in the middle of the divorce wouldn't wish it upon anyone. 

As Christians, whilst we will still struggle, still crash and burn and still have many a sleepless night—we know 100% that the Lord is there with us, watching over us and keeping us safe. God doesn't prevent incidents from happening, He does help us weather the storm and that is what we need to constantly remind ourselves of.  We are NOT alone in this journey, we have constant companionship and guidances however, we do NEED to trust in God as we go through our day. Just as Sully landed his plane, we to will we safely land our's at the end of each day—if only we place our trust in God. 


But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)


Comments

  1. Early days of marriage and motherhood are a very steep learning curve!!!
    Thank God for those who keep an eye out for us, who guide and encourage us!!!
    Even if you are only days or weeks ahead of someone else in those situations, you CAN offer help - gentle, loving guidance can make a world of difference! 😊

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    1. Helping others, even in a small way can make a whole lot of differences.

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  2. Do you mean in the first paragraph 'In their attempt to prove him wrong they re-run the crash using computer simulations and sure enough, both the computer simulations and the simulations using pilots all provided he could have returned to the airport." that Sully should have returned to the asirport, or is the word not missing from this sentence?
    Regards Emma

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    1. Slightly changed the sentence, hope it makes more sense now !! Thanks, too much rushing 😊😊

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  3. Wow, it's so true that while God doesn't stop bad things from happening, he's there for us during the storms. It seems like a simple thing, until you go through something difficult and unexpected. Trusting in God and holding on to him is what gets me through life as well. Thanks for the encouragement this morning!

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    1. If God did stop all the bad things from happening - in time we would forget to lean on him as we wouldn't see any reason to. And sadly, whilst we tend to be quick to ask for help - we are often slow in saying thankyou.

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  4. Just beautiful encouragement Jo! Thank you for posting this!

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    1. P.S. I featured this post today on the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)

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