Update on Josh...3/21/17

"You and I were created for Joy, and if we miss it, we miss the reason for our existence....If our joy is honest joy, it must somehow be congruous with human tragedy. This is the test of joy's integrity: is it compatible with pain?...Only the heart that hurts has a right to joy."

Lewis Smedes

How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong

Kelly and I have had a lot of people ask how we are doing. It is always a hard question to answer because neither of us knows for sure how we are supposed to be doing. But I wanted to take this opportunity to do my best to answer that question.

Although I don't know what could have prepared us for the past 6 months, back in 1985 I came down with an infection in my nervous system that led to a neurological disorder called Guillian-Barre Syndrome. I had lost function in my arms and legs. I had some difficulty breathing. And I had lost some feeling in my feet. All this took place 4 weeks before our wedding. There were some that had even advised Kelly not to marry me. Kelly obviously did! It had to be something to see a 96 pound bride putting a 175 pound husband in a wheel chair! It was a situation that, though tough, really drew us together.

That same year our pastor suggested we read a book that had just come out called You Gotta Keep Dancin' by Tim Hansel. It was a book that would come to provide a key piece in the foundation of our marriage. The basic premise of the book is that "happiness" is circumstantial. If it is a pretty day, if the traffic is light, if I get that job...then I am happy. Hansel says, "Joy on the other hand, is something which defies circumstances and occurs in spite of difficult situations. Whereas happiness is a feeling, joy is an attitude. A posture. A position. A place." Joy is a CHOICE!

This joy I speak of is not the suppressing of our pain and pretending things are all right until somehow they are. It is not trying to put a pretty face on a bad situation. There is just no way I could put a pretty face on what we have been through the past 6 months. The joy Kelly and I know is a joy that comes from having full confidence in what the Lord is doing in and through all of this. So no matter how difficult this circumstance seems, we trust in what and Who we know and not just in what we see. As the opening quote says, we were created for joy. And it is through difficult situations like these that we can experience its height, depth, and breadth.

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." John 15:11

Prayer Request:

*For all the details involved in the transition back home.

*That Josh would continue to develop consistency in his progress.

*Though he is vocalizing, he still cannot "communicate". Pray for that window to open! We are close!

Remember, "You Gotta Keep Dancin'!"

All In For Josh!