The Hope of Easter

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers and thank you again for your presence with us and continued interest in Joy’s long and winding healing journey, now at 14 months and counting. I haven’t used the term rollercoaster in quite a while, but I would have to say this past week has been just that on a emotional and even sometimes physical level for Joy.

We continue to be pleased beyond words with our new home, meeting new people, having special visits with our closest friends, and our ever expanding exploratory walks. However, it has also been a time of repeated bouts of sadness for Joy as she struggles with the ongoing aphasia and cognitive challenges from the accident.

I think Joy shows extreme courage in initiating conversations with new acquaintances knowing that she may well struggle with her words and understanding. While these times, again in my view, have gone very well, Joy is her own worst critic after the fact, recognizing the challenges of conveying even the simplest of ideas or concepts at times. Whether emotionally related or not, this has also led to Joy having some days of extreme fatigue which again frustrates her emotionally when she loves to be active often reflecting on how “different” she is now.

Part of this is the transition from acute recovery, to short-term, to long-term recovery, to living with a chronic condition, but not being sure where the line is between each. What part of the “new normal” is to be accepted and accommodated versus continuing to explore the possibility of further “recovery” through ongoing efforts of exercise and rehabilitation. I have to admit that during the intense phase of getting our house ready for market, showings, downsizing, packing, moving, unpacking, and settling in, recovery and rehabilitation took a bit of a back seat. Now we are looking to explore what this new normal of recovery looks like on a day to day basis. In Joy’s and my reading through the Bible this year we recently read the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 which encourages a persistence in one’s requests to God. But, at the same time leads us to try and balance and/or discern, when may an answer be no. Hence, one of the many potential emotional struggles in recovery - dealing with serious injury which leads to a degree of permanent disability.

So I know this has been a long haul for all of you and once again, we cannot thank you enough for your faithfulness in walking this journey with us, but we will continue to plead with you for renewed commitment to holding Joy’s healing needs up in your thoughts and prayers. Healing for sight to the upper right, healing of her aphasia, and healing for the many details of knowledge memory stollen in the accident.

At the same time, I again want to applaud and credit Joy with her courage, determination, and prayerful, compassionate heart in the mist of the rollercoaster emotions and fatigue. As we gathered last week for lunch with our closest friends, I think we were all moved to tears as Joy described how she has concern for and prays for the young man who struck us. I am so blessed to share life with such a gentle, beautiful, yet lion-hearted soul.

And so as we look ahead to this Easter Sunday, I want to leave you with yet another Henri Nouwen quote, which in many ways speaks to the place we find ourselves today:

The Easter season is a time of hope. There still is fear, there still is a painful awareness of sinfulness, but there also is light breaking through. Something new is happening, something that goes beyond the changing moods of our life. We can be joyful or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, tranquil or angry, but the solid stream of God’s presence moves deeper than the small waves of our minds and hearts. Easter brings the awareness that God is present even when his presence is not directly noticed. Easter brings the good news that, although things seem to get worse in the world, the Evil One has already been overcome. Easter allows us to affirm that although God seems very distant and although we remain preoccupied with many little things, our Lord walks with us on the road and keeps explaining the Scriptures to us. Thus there are many rays of hope casting their light on our way through life.

Please know we wish you all a very blessed Easter and pray that this special day will offer you and yours a renewed hope for the weeks and months ahead.