"Something had changed inside of me. All those years of people proclaiming that it's not about what you do, it's about who your are...I finally, really, fully understood that. I had to lose my job, my health, my abilities and my hobbies...all the things that made me "who I was" to see who I am.
Through the process of loosing more of my abilities and seeking Him, is when I realized that what I have can't be found in the pages between covers of a magazine or book. It can't be found in things.
What I've found is that I'm resilient. I've found I have fortitude and faith. I've found that I care more about your feelings than mine. I've found there is nothing that cannot be redeemed and there is no one that doesn't need encouragement. I've found I don't need to be who the world wants me to be, because all the world really needs is who I already am.
The truth is that life today is no better or worse than I wanted...it's just completely and utterly different. The wisdom comes from knowing that it is exactly as it should be. the joy comes in learning to love it, not despite all I've lost, but because of all that it has brought to me." ~Sara Frankl
There are so many ways that society today puts the focus of our importance on what we have or how we look. When my daughter became a teenager I made a canvas for her bathroom and hung it next to her mirror. It displayed the verse from 1 Peter 3:3-4 -- "It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful. No your beauty should come from within you -- The beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. This beauty will never disappear and is of great worth in God's sight."
The canvas and the verse didn't make those teenage years any easier. It didn't make the pressure of peers go away. There were still trials and tears, but what I hope it did do, was remind her of what was MOST important. That the beauty of who she is will always be of great worth in God's sight.
Is it possible to have both joy and sorrow in the midst of trials? I think it is...I don't think there is one trial that I have gone through where my relationship with God hasn't deepened and where joy hasn't come from it. The pain of childbirth bringing me the joy of children; the sorrow of losing loved ones bringing joy because of the blessings they gave; the sadness felt when children move away bringing joy when they add more loved ones to the family...the list goes on...
I am blessed...because each pain and sorrow I have had to face has brought me more joy than I could imagine.