The Life With Joy Returns

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers. Welcome back! We thank you for returning with us to our ongoing story and travels along this unexpected journey that we find ourselves on. When I last posted I shared that I felt we were at an inflection point moving from a healing journey of joy and hope to a “living with permanent brain damage” story of joy and hope. This seems most evident as we have had more and more experiences, some routine, some exciting, some challenging, and some wonderful, in which Joy is regularly confronted with her language limitations both in understanding what she hears and in finding the words she wishes to say. Although we continue to work on therapies for Joy’s aphasia, the gains, which are recognizable, are slight and slow to emerge. These cognitive challenges combined with the remaining physical manifestations from the accident, ranging from Joy’s right sided blindness to various stubborn maladies, now define our “new normal.” Yet, at the same time, we are amazed daily at the grace and mercy of our God and look forward to sharing our continued experiences with you.

Near the end of May we boarded Amtrak’s Borealis service which runs daily between St. Paul’s Union Depot and Chicago’s Union Station. We disembarked in Milwaukee and had a wonderful time enjoying a couple of days in downtown Milwaukee, exploring the town, strolling along the River Walk and lake shore. While we certainly had the goal of enjoying ourselves, we also recognized this trip as somewhat of a test of how travel would/could go for us now in our new normal. While, as you know from previous reports, Joy’s physical strength rebounded miraculously, at times she experiences “hitting a wall” usually after a combination of physical and emotional experiences which can leave her “down for the count” for a day or two. We were both very pleased on this mini vacation that Joy did well with daily walks of around 9-10 miles, in addition to navigating new surroundings and experiences on our trip.

The trip also, however, poignantly illustrated the challenges Joy faces with her aphasia. “How would you like your eggs?” I have to admit with this one, that Joy did an excellent job when she couldn’t come up with the word of making a whisking motion with her hand to which the waitress responded, “Scrambled?” But then came the toast choices, “White, Wheat, Rye, Sourdough, or English Muffin,” Joy shot me a panicked look and I knew none of this had registered with her, so I just said, “I think with what you are having, you’d enjoy an English Muffin.” While that got us through breakfast, then there was dinner, “What type of dressing would you like on your salad? Ranch, Blue cheese, Honey mustard, Vinaigrette?” Another panicked look and choice for me to suggest. Later, I asked Joy if she thought it would help for us to “rehearse” choices like the breads or dressings as I named off each one, but when I looked over at her tears were welling up in her eyes and she said, “I didn’t understand a thing you just said.” Again, we practice and make accommodations, but we certainly welcome your continued prayers for healing of Joy’s aphasia which feels like the most significant challenge on a day to day basis for her. Despite these challenges, we have had some wonderful experiences, that I will share in next week’s post. These for us have been some much welcomed “hand of God” moments that cause us to stop and genuinely thank him for his faithfulness, showing us his tender mercies in the midst of challenging experiences.

This brings me to a verse I’ve been meditating on that holds significant meaning for us at this stage of our journey. In 1 Samuel we read about a point in David’s life where he may have well be in the greatest peril he had ever faced, save maybe his confrontation with Goliath. David and his band of several hundred men had been evading Saul who was seeking to kill him when they actually aligned for a time with the Philistine King Achish. As the Philistines were preparing to go to war against Israel, David and his men were asked to not join the battle for fear he would side with the enemy, but when David and his men returned to their homes, they discovered the Amalekites had raided their town of Ziklag taking all their possessions and their wives and children captive. While all would be recovered eventually, when the loss was first discovered, in their discouragement, David’s loyal men, the only friends he had on earth, started talking of stoning him to death in their despair. In 1 Sam 30:6 we read, “David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him.” Things looked pretty grim, yet the same verse continues with, “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” Now, as we know from his many recorded psalms, David frequently cried out to God for help, healing, protection, victory, and forgiveness, but in this instance we seem to see him comforted just because of who knew God to be, not with a cry for help, but with what appears to be a settled assurance, even in the midst of his friends wanting to murder him, that he could feel strength and encouragement, “in the Lord his God.”

While we continue to cry out daily seeking miraculous intervention for Joy’s continuing needs, when we are knee deep in the “living with permanent brain damage” weeds, we are oh so thankful for the, “encouragement we have in the Lord our God,” for who he is and who he has proven himself to be. I struggle to put into words the sense of presence and peace God has given us in the most challenging times. Even “in the valley of the shadow,” at some of our lowest points, God has been faithful in “being there” with a surety and a sensed sufficiency that is palpable and unmistakable.

We have more to share but will plan on that for next week. For now, once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for your faithfulness and encouragement, please continue your prayers for Joy as God brings her to mind and we want to assure you of our prayers for all of you as well.