Truth from the Trenches: Choosing Joy Again (and again, and again)

This past Wednesday Addison had another neurosurgeon appointment.  It was in Lubbock, some two hours down the road – four hours round-trip.  And, as I was driving to and from, I was thinking.  I do some of my best thinking in the car, actually, although almost none of it makes it anywhere useful because I have a raging case of forgetfulness going on.

I peered in the rear view mirror to see my sweet, ringlet-crowned girl fast asleep.  She doesn’t look the part – she doesn’t look sick.  Her last year and a half have been chocked full of specialists and needles and twice-a-day meds.  She, in some ways, has been defined by epilepsy.

That got me to thinking…what is it that people are most defined by?  What makes them, them? 

It’s easy to let ourselves be defined by the BIG things that happen in life.  Perhaps these are often the BIG and the negative things that happen.  (Parker’s birth and burial, monumental moments in our marriage, Addison’s epilepsy…etc.)    For me, much of my adult life hasn’t been defined by successes, but instead, by my own perceived failures.  Maybe that’s different for you. . .?  I really have no idea but I guess my point is this:  while we can’t exactly choose the things that come to us as defining, we can choose how we feel about our defining moments.

I’m absolutely sure that I’m just like everyone else.  Our struggles and trials and hard things … our mad, angry, and sad things … they’re all different – individual – as are our joys. 

And then there’s Sunday school. 

And if you want to know if God knows, you should just go to Sunday school.  Because this morning’s lesson hit me right between my eyes.  James 1. 

You decidedly choose joy no matter how mediocre, rough, or tough the season you’re going through is.  Choose joy.  And when your mediocre/rough/tough season is compounded by additional testing and pain, you know what to do.  Choose joy, again.  And again.  And Again.  And again. 

Keep on choosing joy.   

From the Fullness of His Grace,

Lacey

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  …   Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James 1:2-4 & 12