sorJOYrow

A truism of life: sorrow and JOY often mix.

Proverbs 14:13… “Even in laughter, the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief.”

One of the Top 10 joys of my life was the night I gave birth to my first child.  One of the Top 3 sorrows of my life (so far) was the morning decades later when I buried him.

Unspeakable joy fills my heart when I remember the days before the illness set in—and even the days afterward when David triumphed in remarkable ways over all that burdened him.  Yet, sorrow remains knowing that all he could’ve been was lost to something that’s so consuming and so pervasive in our world today.  Sorrow not only for me and for Mike, but for every parent who needs to make a hard decision or who passes through a dark, painful valley.

So it is with most children.  So it is even more with children who are plagued with a mental illness.

So, too, it is something that God himself knows first-hand and can walk through with us.

“So God created mankind in his own image…and He blessed them...”  Such JOY!

“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness had become…and his heart was deeply troubled…”  “The waters rose and covered the mountains…and every living thing that moved on land perished…”  Such SORROW!

He knows our joy, and He feels our sadness.  He blesses our lives, and He supports our ‘tough calls’.  He’s our strength and our comforter, especially through life’s difficult seasons.

Some words of wisdom from all this…

Pursue joy and blessing despite the risk of sorrow.

Don’t let today’s grief erase yesterday’s joy—nor constrain tomorrow’s choices.

Run to God in both joy and sadness—first in thanks, then for guidance and comfort.