A Year Later--Part One

Joanna woke me up this morning with a cheerful, "Happy New Year!"

You might be thinking, "She's a couple months early, isn't she?" Actually, she was right on time and I knew what she meant. We've now completed a full year of our trial. It was a year ago today, October 18, that I felt the first symptoms of my illness.

If all goes as planned, I'm going to take the next blogs to try to recap the key lessons we are learning since this saga started. There may be some redundancy with what you've already read in previous blogs, but I think it would be a healthy exercise for me to make myself think and write in these terms.

Flat on my back in a hospital bed so many months ago now, I told a friend, "I don't want to miss any of the lessons God wants to teach me through this." I didn't have a clue what they would be, but on this one year anniversary it is time to do a "heart review." So, that's the plan. As always, thanks for joining me on the journey.

On our walk, today, I got a head start on this subject by asking Joanna what she thought were the key lessons God had taught us this year. She had a number of good things to share. Her first response was about experiencing God's faithfulness to be near to us at our lowest points. She cited examples of when she didn't know if she could go any further--she felt like she had hit absolute bottom--and as she cried out to God, time and time again He was faithful to meet her.

Day after day, Joanna has spent time in the Word--throughout her life, but never with as much hunger as this past year has created. One of the many chapters that has been meaningful to her is Isaiah 45. In it we find out we have a God who is able give to us "the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places" so that we may know that He is the Lord.

On our one year anniversary of this mysterious journey, we together want to celebrate a God who is able to reveal treasures in the darkness. These secret riches, it seems, are primarily experienced by those who have had to dwell in the dark for a season. And, the most fundamental treasure we have found is that He is faithful.

A year later we are still claiming, "God is in this and God is good." There were some very dark days--weeks--okay, months--for us. Yet, in no way could we ever say that we were abandoned by God. We didn't feel Him every moment, or hear Him every day or see Him at work in every circumstance. However, it is our honest testimony that He has been there every moment of every day working in every circumstance.

This is the God we love and serve--amen?!

Your Friends,
John and Jo

PS I had fun with the Fabian story and evidently, some of you did, too. Thanks for the encouraging feedback. (Meanwhile, I know well that a story like this isn't for everybody.)

I've been asked if the story could be read in a school classroom. My response: "Hey, go for it. I'm thrilled you found it of enough pleasure or value to use." I've also been asked if there is more to the story to come. The answer is, "There wasn't originally, but one is starting to arise in my mind. However, this kind of piece takes me a long time to write, and I have other writing projects taking priority for a while so it won't be anytime soon."