Analogy of our emotions –

I’ll pre-apologize before you read this - - this entry is mainly for my benefit as an outlet to release some emotion - - and to keep as a journal for later years. 

Everyone keeps asking us “how are you doing?” or “how are you holding up?” so here is the best answer I can come up with…  When we stepped out in faith to take this precious baby boy, we actually stepped off the edge of the Grand Canyon.  We are hang-gliding over huge crevices, barely keeping afloat on the wings of prayer and support of family and friends.  If we think too much about the “what if’s” or “when’s”, the winds below us start to falter and we begin falling.  We have to close our eyes to what’s below and enjoy the ride for as long as we can hold on.  But believe us when we say that we are holding on for dear life as the alternative scares us to death.  Hope this helps you understand.

One of my biggest sources of encouragement right now is music, specifically KLOVE radio.  As I was driving down the road the other day, I heard a song that caused me to stop and just cry.  It was as if the song was my words to God.  The song is called “Strength” by Matthew West.  The first line of the song is “God, you must think I’m strong, to give me what I’m going through.  Forgive me if I’m wrong, but this is more than I can bear…”  To give you some background on the song, it is written about a young girl that is suffering from severe medical issues.  Everyone keeps telling her that God will not give her more than she has the strength to handle.  Her honest and angry answer was “well, then He must think I’m freakin’ strong!”  Sam and I feel like yelling that same thing occasionally... “You have us wrong!!  We’re not that strong!!”  We continually have to find strength in others because we are sure we’d crumbled if we tried to hold this on our own. 

I love this devotion that I read today:  “If you are like me, you sometimes think you don’t have enough faith. The amount of faith is not nearly as important as the right kind of faith – faith in God alone. Faith does not rest on what we have done, but on what Christ has already done on the cross and in our lives. Faith builds on the victories of yesterday to help us face the valleys of today and the storms of tomorrow. Faith does not bypass pain. It does, however, empower us to deal with pain. Faith steps up to the bat and invites the opponent to throw his best pitch. Sometimes faith strengthens us, and other times, surprises us. Great faith is forged in the deepest valleys, beginning where our strength and power end.”

I’ll leave you with this thought… keep finding the joy in the daily reminders that God is near!!!  Below is pictures of a gorgeous sunrise that I took Monday of this week on my way to work.  I had to pull over and capture it because I can almost imagine God’s presence behind the clouds!!