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| This is a series I am doing for the month of October. If you are new, you can start HERE. |
Day 6
Thoughts on Joy:
On our journey, we can't always see the end of the road. Maybe it is still miles away, but maybe it is just over the next hill.
“Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ is the 'high priest of good things to come'." (Jeffrey R. Holland, Remember Lot's Wife)
We
have to keep moving. Each step forward that we take is evidence of
our faith.
The
last several years have been trying for our family. My husband
encountered obstacle after obstacle in trying to finish his
doctorate. What should have taken four or five year stretched out to
seven years as he met with such issues as a move to another state,
failed experiments, losing committee members, issues with new
committee members, non-functioning equipment and so on.
Our family struggled through this time. These numerous set-backs were a
trial of our faith. After seven years, my husband received his PhD
from the University of Rochester in New York this past May.
The sacrifices
we made and discouragements we endured made achieving this goal one of the
sweetest experiences we have had. We pressed forward; we kept trekking down the long stretch of road and we reached an end.
That wasn't the end of the journey though. Another road lay ahead of us. Things are not magically
perfect now that we have reached the end of that particular road. We
are still trying to maintain faith as he searches for a more permanent job that
will support our family of four growing boys.
Along
this very difficult stretch of highway in our journey, my conviction
that my Heavenly Father
knows me and loves me and is mindful of my family has grown. We still
don't know what lies on the road ahead or where our journey will take us
next, but we can choose to be happy now and trust the Lord. We have
faith for the future, and that allows us to have joy in the present.
Today I Found Joy in My Journey:
--Sitting in my rocking chair in the sunshine, listening to the birds chirping and enjoying the sweet autumn breeze.
--Watching this. Thanks, Steve.
--Rereading all the kind comments friends and family made about our family photos that I posted on Facebook.
--Eating delicious leftovers from last night's dinner (even better the next day!) for lunch.
--Listening to Specs laugh at the cartoons he is watching. Genuine little kid laughter fills me up with joy like few other things do. :)
And it's only lunchtime! I wonder what joys the rest of the day will bring.
--Sitting in my rocking chair in the sunshine, listening to the birds chirping and enjoying the sweet autumn breeze.
--Watching this. Thanks, Steve.
--Rereading all the kind comments friends and family made about our family photos that I posted on Facebook.
--Eating delicious leftovers from last night's dinner (even better the next day!) for lunch.
--Listening to Specs laugh at the cartoons he is watching. Genuine little kid laughter fills me up with joy like few other things do. :)
And it's only lunchtime! I wonder what joys the rest of the day will bring.
What brought you joy today?
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| Other posts HERE |
4 comments:
So inspiring, your joy. It has been a trying 3 years for our family as well. But something amazing happened when my hubby lost his job and we had to downsize to an adorable bungalow, send our children to public school and me work while they are in classes....joy. Unspeakable, uplifting, invisible but ever-present joy. That isn't to say I don't have my crying fits and occasionally lose my temper (at the worst times I might add) but God is indeed mindful of us, all the time.
Thank you for such beautiful prose.
xoxo michele
Beautifully said! You appreciate more that which you work harder for :)
BTW LOVE your new fam pics! Bow ties and all!!
I've been planning to post about my brother's journey to PhD as my joy today. I think it's a fun coincidence that we're posting about similar things!
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