Adventurously Expectant

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers, thank you for continuing to share this journey with us. This week has seen some verifiable “baby steps” in Joy’s cognitive processing and for that we are truly thankful.

At the same time, baby steps are a bit of a double edged sword for Joy because while it is genuinely helpful for her to recognize and acknowledge progress, the fact that the progress comes in very small baby steps has its element of disappointment as well. Thankfully, this has not deterred Joy’s grit and determination as we continue to practice, practice, and practice utilizing the tools we have to fight back at aphasia and her cognitive processing challenges.

One of the things we both most appreciate are the daily segments in our read through the Bible this year. We both use the One Year Bible format, but are reading in different translations. I continue my individual reading in the morning and then Joy reads out loud to me after breakfast and after dinner. The format for each day includes Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs segments with the Psalms actually being completed twice, so we just started into Psalms a second time at the beginning of July.

So in recognizing that our day to day life is largely a matter of baby step updates for now, but still wanted to stay connected, we thought we’d take some time each week to share an insight or two from our week’s Bible reading that can provide both an update on where we are at, while hopefully offering some encouragement as well.

One of the things I appreciate so much about scripture is its “realness” in speaking, not only to the good, but also the bad, and the ugly of life. Our reality of late has been one of contrasts, great joy and thankfulness along with emotional and physical challenges that at times can knock us down and knock the wind right out of us. Last week I shared Jeremiah’s words from Lamentations which so beautifully illustrates the ability to hold the pain of lament/disappointment/heartache in one hand, while holding genuine thankfulness, peace, and confidence in God’s love and provision in the other. In our reading this week, Psalm 13 provided another great example of the “both/and” rather than “either/or” reality of our faith. David writes:

O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever?

How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,

with sorrow in my heart every day?

How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!

Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die…

But I trust in your unfailing love.

I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

I will sing to the LORD

because he is good to me.

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.

Of course given the permanency of Joy’s brain damage and residual physical challenges we both experience, it is also encouraging to read the following from Romans chapter 8 where Paul writes:

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you… So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later… For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

I especially like Eugene Peterson’s The Message take on verses 15-17 which reads: “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!”

So thank you once again for your time with us today, we continue to covet your faithful prayers and support, and pray that your week ahead may be “adventurously expectant” and blessed.🙏🏻