Joe Btfsplk

Bet you can’t say that 10 times fast! LOL!

Here is the description of Joe from the Wikipedia entry for the “Li’l Abner” comic strip.

Joe Btfsplk: The world’s worst jinx, Joe Btfsplk had a perpetually dark rain cloud over his head. Instantaneous bad luck befell anyone unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity. Though well-meaning and friendly, his reputation inevitably precedes him — so Joe is a very lonely little man. He has an apparently unpronounceable name, but creator Al Capp “pronounced” Btfsplk by simply blowing a “raspberry,” or Bronx cheer. Joe’s personal storm cloud became one of the most iconic images in the strip.

This was the unfortunate nickname my Dad gave me for most of my life. I was finally able to tell him NOT to call me that or to say I had a black rain cloud over my head in the last year of his life. I said that him seeing me in that way made it true because I was always worried about messing up so I would. He was actually very surprised at this. He apologized and never called me that again, but I knew he still saw me that way.

Yes, a lot has gone wrong in my life. But it wasn’t until I prayed Christ into my life that I finally realized that for all the bad, things could have, and even should have, been worse. The realization actually occurred a few months before the prayer when I was taken to see my car after an accident. It was written off and I needed to get all my possessions out of it. I supposedly passed out at the wheel (I was later diagnosed with hypoglycemia), hit a moving truck, then a car parked on the side of the road and rolled into a ditch. I came to in the ambulance and heard someone screaming (it was me). I couldn’t see for about three hours and that was a very scary time.

I came out of that accident with stitches in my forehead, a broken collar bone, concussion and bruises from head to toe. When I saw my poor little Tercel and how it was bent and smashed, I knew I was very lucky. No, I realized for the first time in my life that it wasn’t all the bad things that happened to me…it was the fact that every one of them could have been worse. I was definitely blessed to come out of that alive, let alone with the few injuries I did. And this same principle could be applied to every “bad” thing that happened before and after that Epiphany. This is what started my questions about God and faith and led to my giving my life to Christ a short time later.

It also helped me to no longer buy into my Dad’s “joke” about my clumsiness and bad luck. It still took me a long while to face up to him about it, but I was no longer believing it and better things started happening for me.

I consider every health problem, accident, run of “bad luck”, etc. to be just another learning opportunity. I firmly believe God has allowed me to go through all of these things to make me stronger so He can use me to help others. And I have. I have helped families face the awful truths about the suicide of loved ones by answering their very difficult questions through my own experiences. I have two paramedic friends who tell my story to people they are trying to save from suicide – and it often works. I have mentored several young women from our church and helped them through tough times. A failed marriage to a very difficult first husband has given me the ability to help others free themselves from similar situations.

I can not work because of my health problems, but I certainly keep myself occupied with many things. I have a truly wonderful hubby who treats me like a princess and loves me to bits – and I love him right back. We have a crazy cat and a dog who thinks she is a people. We own our modest but comfortable home, two vehicles and have wonderful friends and family close by.

Labels such as black rain clouds, clumsy, etc. don’t bother me anymore. I prefer to see the silver linings instead. Maybe I am more like Olaf, the snowman from “Frozen”, who got his own personal snow flurry to keep him from melting. My silver lined cloud keeps me positive!