Category: Wheelchair

Let God Bless You

by C.C. Hasty, posted in Blessed, Dreams, God Is Good, Heaven, Prayer, Uncategorized, Wheelchair

Today, Pastor Randy of Life Restoration Church sent me a Facebook message inviting me to church service this morning. I immediately replied that I couldn’t come because I was moving my store. His response? “If you come this morning, I will send a team of young men to help you move today. And you can come to church, and get filled up by the Holy Spirit, get a word from the Lord, and get some help at your store today.” I immediately replied, Deal! Not because I expected anyone to help, but I figured that if he was that willing to get me to church, then God obviously had a word for me that I needed to hear.

When our lives are falling apart, church should be the first place we run. Me? I am hard-headed to the core. I try micro-managing every thing by myself. I become a doer. I think that if I work hard enough I can fix it myself. Of course I never do, and everything continues to fall down around me until I finally have to hand it over to God. Which I should have done from the beginning.

Growing up, I had to be tough. I learned to be independent and strong. It has gotten me through a lot of trials, but it has also been one of my biggest flaws. I don’t know how to ask for help. I just do it myself. Now ask me if I do it quietly or without anger? Nope, my feelings get hurt because people I love don’t want to help me. My anger just pushes me forward until yes, the job is done, but I am one bitter person. Did I mention I can hold a grudge? Like, forever? It is another one of those flaws I am working on.

After church, Pastor Randy messaged me and said, “Hey! I got about 10 men ready here!! Where are you?” I explained that he really didn’t have to help, I came because I knew God had a word for me. And he said, “You HAVE to let God bless you!!” Isn’t it amazing how God wants to bless us, but we are the ones in His way stopping Him? He was right, and I knew it. God can’t bless me when I won’t let Him.

Why is it so hard to hand things over to Him? I wish I could tell all you that almost losing my boys brought me to a place of total trust and faith. I am and always will be a work in progress. Did I mention that the message today was about faith? One of the things Pastor Randy said was exactly what I needed to hear, “The harder the thing is that you have to go through, the more magnificent your testimony.” God knew I needed the reminder. I needed to hear the words. Immediately after the accident God told me that He had a plan and a purpose for this happening. I held on to that Word and it helped get me through one of the most difficult experiences of my life. I knew then that what our boys were going through was for His testimony.

Someone reminded me this week that God is using me for His purpose. My story and my voice has helped others, and continues to do so. It seems like my dream of Vintage is ending, but God has bigger plans in the works. And that when you use your voice to give God the praise, the devil comes in to try to steal it. I refuse to shut up. I have said it from the beginning, and I still say it. God has done too much for my family to not get the praise He deserves.

Not just 10 young guys come to help, it was more like 20. They had trucks and they were ready to work! I had spent 4 days packing and moving what I could in the back of my Tahoe, and barely made a dent. What would have taken myself and Heather (who has been so good to me and agreed to stay to help me until the very end) 2 weeks to do took them a few hours. They literally moved my entire store with me. I cannot begin to express my gratitude.

While I was watching them fellowship with one another and moving furniture, God reminded me that what I was witnessing was church. Church is belonging to a family that loves one another. Belonging to a family of believers that loves people that they don’t even know. These people didn’t have to spend their Sunday afternoon in the sweltering heat to help someone they have barely met move. Yet they did, full of love and with no questions asked. They loved on me and encouraged me the entire time. And God did I need it! At the end of the day, they prayed with my husband and I. This group of young men are what church is all about. If you don’t have a church family, I highly recommend Life Restoration Church.

As I showed them the car that the boys were in the accident in so that they could see why we were having to close my store and move furniture, God reminded me too. My heart aches because I had to give up my dream, but I must have faith and trust in God that this isn’t the end. Our journey isn’t over. We still have a long way to go. We have had to make many sacrifices as a family, and I am sure there will be more to make in the future.

Do I wish that our lives were back to “normal”? Absolutely. Would I love to be without all of the stress I have endured for the last 10 months? You bet I would! But I also would have missed out on all of the good things that has come from the accident: Hearing Jackson talk about his trip to heaven. Watching God work miracles time after time. Learning to let go and allowing Him to bless me. Hearing from people who’s lives have forever more been changed because of our boys story. And having a group of young men show up to not only help me move, but to love on me when I needed it the most and to remind me that I should have handed it over to God from the very beginning.

Love and blessings,

C.C.

Fear Equals More Fear

by C.C. Hasty, posted in Blessed, Discrimination, God Is Good, Mom, Uncategorized, Wheelchair

A news article released today by CNN shows a video of a police officer using a taser on a 17-year-old boy until he went into cardiac arrest. Have you ever watched something that makes you so mad you want to punch a hole into a wall? Yep, I was that mad. I have spent time thinking about why this video caused such a violent reaction in me. There are several….

First, this boy is white. Why does this make me mad? Because this story simply won’t get the media attention as most others do. The truth is, had this boy been black or of any other race, this story would be all over social media and crammed down our throats. That is just the simple truth.

You can argue that the boy was resisting arrest. I don’t believe that to be the only truth. He asked repeatedly why he was being arrested. No response or explanation from the officer. When is it ever okay to treat another human this way? To use a taser on them and then throw them onto a concrete sidewalk? Not a black boy. Not a white boy. A human. I believe had the officer explained to him why he was asking him to get out of the car, the outcome could have been much different. It is human nature to defend ourselves. You can argue that the boy should have just gotten out of the car, and I agree. I also believe that the media has taught our youth to fear police officers. And the more stories like this that receive media attention, the worse it will get. It is a vicious cycle.

We have created a world where people are afraid of police officers, those who are dedicated to help and serve us. Yes, I believe that some police officers are corrupt and should go to jail. Some of them have been granted power and authority they should never have had. But I also believe that those “bad apples” are the minority. There are “bad” people in every single ethnic background, gender, race, religion, etc. But not all should pay for the sins of a few.

The media will continue to highlight and focus on discrimination. People will become more and more afraid of police officers, and fear begets fear. Police officers will be in fear of getting sued or put in jail, therefore affecting their job performance. And really, can you blame them? Would you want to risk your life for the pay that they earn? Would you want to work in constant fear of being sued or spending your life in jail?

So why did this story cause such a reaction of anger in me? Simple. I have two older children, ages 21 and 18. I have talked to them many times about this very thing and how they should respond and react. I don’t care if they know their rights or what the law is, just do what the officer tells you to. Period. Do not give them the opportunity to hurt you. Because at the end of the day, knowing your rights isn’t going to keep you alive. Causing the officer to become defensive isn’t going to help your cause. Do everything right so that when it goes wrong you know you did everything in your power to prevent it.

Both of my boys are “brown”. Their ethnic background should be irrelevant, but it isn’t.  Does it cause me to fear what could happen if they were pulled over? You bet your ass it does. In every possibly way.

I remember going to a race with my oldest son and his black friend. He leans in close to me and says, “Mom, I am not sure we should stay.” He explained to me that everyone was giving us dirty looks. Of course, I was went all momma bear daring someone to say something to my son. I paid money to be there and I was not going to let people run us out. But the truth was, it was the first time that I really understood what it felt like to be discriminated against for race on that level. I cannot begin to explain to you the way it makes you feel to be looked down on by that many people at one time. My heart ached for him and his friend. I have taught my boys to always do what is right, and to never use racism as an excuse to stop from them from doing anything they want to do, but my heart grieves for them because I know they will always have to deal with discrimination.

The last accident that Alex was in, the officer didn’t even bother to ask my son if he was okay. Didn’t ask if he needed medical attention. He only showed concern and offered politeness to the woman who hit my son. Why do I think that was? Because he assumed my son was a reckless teenage hispanic boy. He judged my son solely based on his skin color, gender, and age. I still sometimes contemplate filing a report, but won’t simply because I know there would be consequences and retaliation.

Will there be true equality in our lifetime? No. In our children’s lifetime. No. While the world is up in arms about transgender bathrooms, and folks that is a story for another day, we still haven’t addressed the issues that really matter. Whichever  Presidential Nominee that is elected into the White House isn’t going to fix it. Demonstrations with violence and hate isn’t going to fix it. The only thing that can fix it is Jesus. Yet our government continues to push Christianity into the background, when it needs to be put it in the foreground.

I know this is a controversial issue, so I will ask that everyone who comments please do so with civility. I love to hear others viewpoints and believe it is the only way to truly learn and grow, but let’s keep ’em PG y’all!

My beautiful boys:

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Love and blessings,

C.C.

 

Bill Collectors

by C.C. Hasty, posted in Blessed, God Is Good, Uncategorized, Wheelchair

I sometimes wonder if bill collectors think that I am lying about not having the money to pay them. Like, seriously…. I am totally making it up. I have a ton of money in the bank but I love that you call me 5 times a day as well as ALL of the other people calling to collect money. I totally pay my cell phone bill just so that I can converse on the phone with bill collectors ALL DAY LONG. You’re getting an attitude with me? Yeah, that isn’t going to magically produce the money to pay you either. By the way, threatening me by saying it will reflect on my credit score doesn’t scare me anymore. It can join all the others listed in alphabetical order.

Being business owners obviously has its benefits. We were lucky enough to be able to be with our boys after the accident, without fear of being fired from our jobs. There was also so many people who donated to the GoFund Me account. Had they not have done so, we would have lost everything. We wouldn’t have even been able to eat. Literally.

That money in large part was also used to do repairs to the house to make it wheelchair accessible for Jackson. So many promised to do things that they simply couldn’t or didn’t have the time to do. It ended up being a huge undertaking, especially financially.  I  seriously cannot express the amount of gratitude that our family has to those who gave when our family needed it the most. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to make it.

The downside to being a business owner… you don’t make money when you can’t work. We didn’t work for almost half a year. And sometimes even when you do work, you still don’t make money. It is the nature of being self-employed. I tried to take on a full-time job the first of the year but realized very quickly that I was needed with my family more. There are just too many doctor appointments with Jackson and Alex to allow me to work full-time.

I used to be the type of person to never discuss financial matters with anyone. Now, why wouldn’t I share with those very people who gave and allowed us to stay in the hospital with our babies when so many other parents had to make the choice to leave their children to work?  And seriously, if someone wanted to judge us considering all that we have been through as a family, I wouldn’t want to be friends with them anyway.

I hate having to explain to bill collectors that we simply don’t have the money to pay them. I hate calling my husband to tell him that they turned the water off. Or that a notice is on the front door and if we don’t pay the electric within 24 hours, they are turning that off too. I used to have a great credit score. So being in this position now isn’t fun. We don’t chose to not pay bills. We just simply DON’T have it.

However, with all of that being said, I am also more thankful than I have ever been in my life. We may not be able to pay all of our bills, and we may lose everything yet. But our kids are still here and alive, and at the end of the day, that really and truly is all that matters. Amazing how almost losing the most precious gift God can give you puts things into perspective. And no matter how many collection calls I get, as long as the call isn’t to tell me that my boys have been in an accident, I will take them too.

So, if you are reading this and are one of those who simply can’t make ends meet, cut yourself some slack. Take a moment to remember what you do have to be thankful for.  No matter how broke we have been, our children have never been hungry. God will provide somehow, someway. He always does. Just hand it over to Him.

Love and blessings,

C.C.