A new day dawns fresh and without flaw…

Lamentations 3:22-24

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

Some translations read His mercies are new every morning, for those of you who joined me yesterday, my apologises if I came off sounding much more upset then I was. I was definitely disappointed but really I am well aware things could be far worse, and I am ever so glad that they aren’t.

Today was a good day for Joel he had a pretty good wake up after radiation. He was friendly with most of the hospital staff. A few of the nurses commented on his happy state. His chemo was uneventful and it did not seem to affect him in the least.

Adrian came by the room and the boys had a nice visit and played for awhile. Dave and the kids came by later in the day and had a great visit. At first Joel didn’t want to go outside but I encouraged him along the way and commented on the beautiful blossoms and that was enough of a distraction and we were off!! There is a park on the property and he was thrilled when we got there.

He wanted to climb on everything and all I could think of was I sure hope someone from rehab doesn’t walk by and have a fit. Joel, who up until just a few days ago did not want to try to walk was trying to sneak away from me and take steps with out anyone holding on to him. He is still really wobbly on his own but the fact that he wants to try is fantastic. He also did something that brought tears to my eyes… it is going to sound a little funny but… Joel bent over and with both hands picked up two handfuls of sand. It may not sound like much but Joel has been dealing with fairly sever ataxia and to see his gait slowly improving and to be able to bend over and not loose his balance is amazing. Also Joel lost almost all motor control of his right arm but you would not have thought that today at the park.

See, His mercies are new every morning. Today had blood work which had to be taken by needle in his arm, a radiation treatment followed by a chemo treatment… we had a new doctor from oncology come by that wanted to examine Joel. Potentially all of these things could have been explosive emotionally for Joel but he took it all in stride.

James 1:2-4

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I know we have a long road ahead of us… things that I have never had to face… things I never could have imagined I would face still lay ahead of us. Yet I do think that we can have an impact on the process we can choose to be a victim, to ask why me, to say it isn’t fair. Or we can choose to face it head on with joy. Do I sound like I have completely lost my mind? Truth be told it isn’t fair and I have every right to ask why me, yet what do I gain. Oh last night I had my ‘fun’ lamenting over the fact that I wasn’t at the concert, but how did that serve me? It didn’t change my situation. I still didn’t go to the concert. My blog is not well enough read that Michael and Down Here didn’t decided to pop by the hospital. (Hehehehehe)

If I face my trials with joy what do I get? I get a little boy who sees his Mama put a smile on in the face of adversity. A Mama who finds humor in the oddest places, and builds forts in hospital beds. Together we make friends with other patients and their parents. When we can offer a smile, a listening ear and someone else’s day is lightened just a bit there is joy in that. I am not suggesting that we put on fake smiles and pretend everything is all right, but in the midst of it even in the hard stuff there is still room for joy. After all, the rainbow comes after the rain, without the winter there would not be the anticipation of the new little flowers that poke up in the early days of spring. As many women will attest without the labour there is no new little babe. So to the best of my ability I will choose joy and pray that where I fall short God will meet me with joy.

Choose to choose joy.

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