Testimony: Dea Checchin; October 4th, 2015

My name is Dea Checchin, and I’ve been a member of St. Luke’s for 43 years.I was born and raised in church – Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran, but I really wasn’t a Christian until 1972, when a big change came in my life.I was a stay at home Mom, with four healthy children, ages 14, 12, 7 and 5.  We had just bought our house and life was good.  In May of that year my workaholic husband was diagnosed with tuberculosis.  The doctor said it would be 9 months to a year in the sanitorium; all told, he was off work 16 months.I didn’t know what to do, but I had to find a way to take care of my kids.  I was used to being taken care of, but now I had to take care of everything myself.I was trained in office work, but that didn’t pay enough to take care of my family.  So I found a job in a steel plant.  Hard work, but good pay.  Everything was going all right. I still thought I could do It on my own.Then in September that year, I went into the hospital with hepatitis. God brought me to my knees. Now I had to depend on family and friends, which was good support. I learned I couldn’t do it on my own.  I learned to let go of my pride and ask for help.  I also learned that it’s not the change that gets to us, it’s the way we handle it.Up to then I had gone through the motions of going to church to please my mother.  But after going through all that, my faith really became substantial to me. The last time I was in the hospital I found this little prayer that fit me to a “T”:God our Father,I can think of mistakes I have madeand the attitude that I have sometimes had.May I not become so independentthat I think I know it alland no longer need others,but may I always have true friends around mewho are willing to point me in the right direction.May I be ready to apologize when things go wrong,and be ready to learn from my mistakes,finding humor in my situationand having the ability and good senseto laugh at myself.May I grow in wisdom each day.Amen