This was just our second flying trip since the accident and Joy did an absolutely phenomenal job as we traversed the cities and country side on planes, trains, buses, ferries, and water taxis. But while we were certainly enjoying ourselves, we were also acutely aware of the overall sense of vulnerability and uncertainty we and so many people are currently facing and feeling all around the world.

If our experience of the accident’s trauma and recovery has taught us and assured us of anything, it is that we don’t have to resolve pain or infirmity before resting in our assurance of God’s love, grace, mercy, and provision for us. It can happen at the same time. It needs to happen at the same time.

As an everyday part of her TBI and the accompanying aphasia, Joy struggles with language and cognitive processing, but a couple of days this week have been some of “those” days… A time when the aphasia goes on steroids. So what did we do? We went back to some words I have shared before, but which were just as timely to read now, slowly, carefully, and appreciatively, once again trusting in the “slow work of God.”

In so many ways the accident has taken aspects of Joy’s life, which were always there, and amplified them. Whether it is Joy’s loving nature, kindness, compassion, generosity, gracious service, and/or passionate prayer, each attribute is more visible and more accessible to those of us around her. And this week, it was Joy’s prayerful compassion that stood out and blessed me in very special ways.

It is humbling and sobering and yet reason to celebrate and jump for joy, to know and understand that, “your Father is very fond of you.” Dallas Willard puts it another way when he writes, “To keep a right heart we must remember that the face of God shining upon us in gracious approval is the basis of our value.”