The Spirituality of Struggle

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers and welcome to this “one week to the anniversary post.” We enjoyed an unexpected return to visit Joy’s mother in Iowa again, not because of any issues, but to enjoy some extra family time. Joy’s brother from Oklahoma flew into Minnesota to auction a horse sale and we had planned to go see him in action. But when we noticed the auction arena was about the same distance as the trip to Joy’s mother, and that her brother would be visiting her the day before the auction, we opted to all be together visiting Ruth, although it did mean that Joy and I had to miss the romantic opportunity of being at a horse sale on Valentine’s Day.

Even before the travel plans were finalized, Joy sprung into action and made gluten free versions of pumpkin muffins, cornbread muffins, chocolate chip cookies, and wild rice soup. (For those of you in the Twin Cities, it was the Byerly's recipe. ☺️) Once again, she did this completely on her own after I ran out and got all the ingredients she needed. As I shared a couple of weeks ago, it is so thrilling for me to see Joy able to express her love and compassion for her mom this way and I know it brought them both a lot of joy as well.

As I mentioned above, we are one week away from the second anniversary of the accident and now in the season of Lent which began on Ash Wednesday. Easter, as I have written before, holds so many levels of meaning for us since the accident. Not only were we in the hospital throughout most of the season, but the days, especially of Holy Week, were so poignant as we wrestled with Joy’s suffering and healing journey along with holding the hope of resurrection and renewal. While I know that many would like to focus primarily on the celebration and joy of the resurrection, and that is certainly a glorious reality, I believe, to avoid or neglect the suffering and relevance of the Passion, is to do a disservice to our Lord’s sacrifice and the significant role suffering can play in our lives of faith.

In considering these competing realities of suffering versus hope and/or joy, I appreciate the perspective offered by Joan Chittister in her book, “Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope,” she writes:

God is not a puppeteer and God is not a magic act. God is the ground of our being, the energy of life, the goodness out of which all things are intended to grow to fullness. Yet it is a struggle. How can we possibly equate the two—a good God with a life of tilts and jousts, of bad tries and great travail, the suffering of innocents and the hardship of failure? How can we possibly believe one term of the equation and at the same time understand the other? How can we possibly deal with the great erupting changes of life and come away more whole because of having been through them than we would possibly have been without them?

To do that takes a spirituality of struggle that owns the pain but also comes to grips with each of its dimensions, with all of its demands. The spirituality of struggle is a process. It is, too, a catalyst and a series of gifts without which we cannot possibly become fully ourselves.

The spirituality of struggle is, then, a spirituality that takes change and turns it into conversion, takes isolation and makes it independence, takes darkness and forms it into faith, takes the one step beyond fear to courage, takes powerlessness and reclaims it as surrender, takes vulnerability and draws out of it the freedom that comes with self-acceptance, faces the exhaustion and comes to value endurance for its own sake, touches the scars and knows them to be transformational.

Out of all these things comes new strength and a new sense of self, new compassion and a new sense of the purpose of life. It is struggle that is the foundation of hope, not hope that is a hedge against struggle.

While the these thoughts can certainly be challenging to grasp, trust, or accept, I can honestly say that our time in, through, and since the accident, has proven this reality to be true. But what also has proven true for us is the encouragement we find as we continue to immerse ourselves in God’s Word which offers us renewed hope and strength each day. This week our Bible reading took us to Ps 34:1-10 which in our opinion is one of those passages at the top of the list for hope and encouragement. It reads:

I will praise the LORD at all times.

I will constantly speak his praises.

I will boast only in the LORD;

let all who are helpless take heart.

Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness;

let us exalt his name together.

I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me.

He freed me from all my fears.

Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;

no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened;

he saved me from all my troubles.

For the angel of the LORD is a guard;

he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Fear the LORD, you his godly people,

for those who fear him will have all they need.

Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,

but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing.

And so, we pray, that despite whatever circumstances you are facing this week, that you may be encouraged and strengthened in your journey both now and in the future. 🙏🏻