Even then God provides joy and blessings. Once again our family is in a season of abrupt change. Although I am sad for the events which led to our needing to be in the States this summer, I am secretly delighted to be in a position to have to trust Him again more fully.
Does that make sense?
In the early years, every day was a challenge and every decision required divine guidance. After all these years, somehow the early thrills wore off. The stress levels decreased. And all became familiar, almost mundane, as I have implied before. Our monthly support settled into a predictable and comfortable pattern. Even our brief summer trips to the States became routine.
Then suddenly some neighbors received threats to their lives and were evacuated from the field. That event was followed by other frightening rumors and dangers, which drastically altered our little Mayberry-ish existence. Now we lock our doors at night, keep gates locked during the day, and train our kids to be more watchful.
In the midst of many discussions with our children about safety precautions and awareness, one of our three youngest still living at home, came to me about something that had happened in the past that was still interrupting sleep.
Consequently, our whole world got turned upside down.
We began making preparations to spend three months in California for some counseling and emotional support for this child. In spite of a whole range of emotions that have crept to the surface after learning of my child’s wound, deep down I am still my mother’s daughter, and as such, a Pollyanna-wannabe. This little alter-ego of mine has seen me through many difficult chapters of my life. Even now I am journaling how glad I am to spend this summer with my two college kids, how glad I am this evil world is not my home, how glad I am….
You get the idea.
My question for you is what do you do when it doesn’t seem enough to simply focus on the bright side, declaring, “Let’s play the Glad Game”? Where do you go for comfort when life gets Un-Fun like mine? When your heart is breaking? When you are reminded that following Christ does not guarantee your children’s safety?
Does it help to make a thankfulness list and dwell on the goodness of God? It works for me eventually, even if I must take a brief time out to recuperate first. I pray each of you have reason to smile through your tears whatever your circumstances this week, and that you find joy and blessings in abundance.
If all
else fails, I pray you cling to the cliché words of my own mother, a true
Pollyanna through and through, “This, too, shall pass.”
Note: An edited version of this was first published ten years ago on my old IRL with Jamie Jo blog April 10, 2010
(http://inreallifewithjamiejo.blogspot.com/2010/04/when-life-gets-un-fun.html)
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