...And Today the Sun Shines...

Some days as the mom of a son who has been through as much as our son has in the last seven plus years are harder than others. Some days, I relive what he has had to go through. Some days I feel that pain in the deepest places of my soul all over again. Yesterday was one of those days.

Time and again I have heard "I don't know how you do it". And today's post is going to be just right for some people and others, not so much, but one thing that you will find is that I am is true to myself. When people say they don't know how I do it I have one clear response - my faith.

I was not brought up in a religious family. As an adult I have to come to my faith on my own. And honestly my first several years of going to church was a lot of going through the motions. I felt good when I went, I sang the songs, I listened to the sermons and I even made friends.

About ten years ago things changed. There was a young girl about the age of our oldest, who at the time was experiencing a terrifying medical ordeal - life or death (it should be noted this was before our rare disease journey). They were a family from our church and we would get messages daily or multiple times a day with updates on how to pray for her. I found myself falling to my knees in prayer. I came to have a relationship with Jesus and the whole gospel that I had known for years made sense not just in my brain, but in my soul - the Holy Spirit had taken His place within me.

No, I am not going to say that this made life easier or that I am better than anyone. What I am going to say is that since that time I have been challenged in the most humbling of ways. I lost my dearest grandmother, broke my ankle requiring two surgeries within six months, both boys got their difficult diagnoses, my husband had a couple of health scares, my dad was diagnosed with his dementia, etc.... I am not listing this for pity. I am listing this because becoming a child of God does not mean that your life gets better here, that you get special favors here on earth. What it does mean is that sometimes the battles you face will require you to depend on something so much stronger than yourself, stronger than anything that you are up against.

I hope that you find this post encouraging if you are in the midst of one of those darker days. Know that He is there, all you need is to have faith in Him. And that if the sun is not shining today, there is always tomorrow....