- Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...
Thanks for joining me today for more of this series that has definitely turned out to be more complex than I ever imagined. I truly thought joy was kind of like a snap of the fingers, a one-ingredient recipe; wow, was I ever wrong! Grab your coffee and let’s finish up reiterating the ingredients thus far and putting them with a real life circumstance, life real time!
Since “joy” is in the word “rejoice,” it stands to reason that you cannot rejoice without joy! This may sound a bit redundant, but there are some light bulbs going off in my heart and in my mind and I am finally getting something that is freeing me up from some misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Oh, knowledge is power and the scriptures remain a mystery unless we dig for understanding. Let me share with you my light-bulb moment from Romans 5:3-4: “And not only that – the “that” refers to having peace in and through Christ – “but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that the tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character hope.”
So let me see if I can explain this a little bit at a time by applying it to a life-changing season that I am walking through right now as you read this. First of all, to “glory in tribulations” actually translates to “rejoice” in tribulations, but let’s not stop there; do you see that word “in?” I learned a long time ago -- in the midst of excessive crazy-hard circumstances -- I don’t have to rejoice “for” them while I’m “in” them but I can rejoice through them! That is huge. Let me put this to the test of that life-changing season I’m going through right now.
My son and his family have been called to another state, and not just around the corner; I’m talking 1450 miles away! I can’t even put into words what the past several weeks have been like knowing that they will be so far away and I can’t just get in the car and drive over to see them, at least not for a short drive! Gone are the every-other Monday lunches we shared, or the weekend over-nighters. It has been like someone with a knife has been casting a shadow over my heart and when I’m not looking, they sneakily cut away a layer of it, one piece at time, one day at a time, as if to separate us, one from the other.
And as the time drew closer to say good-bye, I was left yearning for that piece of me to stay and protect the rest of my heart, to not go so far away. Talk about a bummer! But – yes, I said but – I have been able to rejoice! Why? Because I know God has called them to and will carry them through this new season of their lives; that’s the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is still yet to come, but in the meantime, a small movie captured in a week’s worth of memories created when we moved all of them 1450 miles away comes into focus and the moments made during that move squeeze my heart with joy. They are what I cling to now every mile we drive further from them and back toward our home. These moments wouldn’t have been as sweet without the reality of our imminent separation and I’m so happy I’m sad! There really is always something to be thankful for, to rejoice about! Something tells me I’ll be sharing all of those memories in another series someday soon.
Join me tomorrow for more of this joy-stirring series, Destination? Joyful! ™
Tearfully Joyful,
Evinda
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