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I’ve been walking a difficult journey lately, actually all three of us Whitaker sisters have been slogging through difficult fields the last few months. But every few days, something occurs that shows our difficulty is that we’re so busy focusing on negative things and troubles, our smiles are not “reaching our eyes,” because we’re feeling overwhelmed. Yes, I borrowed the phrase about our eyes from a remarkable post https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies by Josie Siler. I wanted to know the context of the verse about Joy Coming in the Morning after a time of disappointment, despair, difficulty, and determination in trying to solve a problem.
The actual context of “joy coming in the morning” has to do with God’s faithfulness and the life truth that no matter what difficulties we face, God will bring us through it and there indeed will be the satisfaction that all will be well, even when we walk through difficult times. The actual Psalm 30 says:
1 I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
3 You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
7 LORD, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
8 To you, LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me; LORD, be my help.”
11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever.
During the last six months, our youngest sister, now seventy-nine, has languished in a rehabilitation hospital in upstate New York. She will never return home, but in the last two months, the two of us older sisters, aged eighty-two and eighty-three, have begun the process of moving her to an assisted living facility in Florida. It has been a hard slog, and is not truly over yeat, but indeed, through our own efforts and much prayer, we an see glimpses of sunshine, and evidence of joy in the morning as details are being finalized. It may just be that we get her in a facility a mere ten minutes away from me.
I’ve called upon the comforting words of Psalm 23, “He leads me beside still waters; he comforts my soul,” indeed, the Shepherd Lord is walking with me. I will be the first one to admit that in this whole process, I have relied on my own strength rather than Gods. I have prayed and countless others of my friends have been praying, but I’ve lacked, at time, the fortitude that indeed comes from my prayer walk being on the mountain rather than in the valley. Each encounter with difficulty has buried me, quite literally, with thoughts of “this is too hard, or will we ever get this done?, or why are we even trying to do this? The difficulties have been more apparent than the joys.
We have had some triumphs– the house is under contract (who on this earth knows when the sale will be completed. . . itls the latest “sticky wicket”. . . the medical evaluation has proven our sister can transfer from bed to wheelchair (a major triumph hurdle). . . her house has been readied for sale (thanks to Ellen, David and family in New York and their herculean effort the last three months and their ten-hour journey’s sacrifices it’s taken to accomplish some sense of order), and I have secured a lovely place for our sister to live. Indeed, there are some joys to celebrate.
We think, with all kinds of hopeful signals, we can make the finances work. That’s night quite certain yet. We think we can fly our sister here, hopefully without incident, and that the three hour flight will be feasible for a wheelchair patient alone and the skills of the airline personnel who can accomplish the task, and we think she will enjoy her new home. Those are the joys in the morning we hope to see in the next month or so. Meanwhile, there are moments of verse 10’s pleas when harsh words are spoken, and when temporary–we hope–roadblocks make the nights long and restless as we wait for morning’s joys.
If you are one of my faithful prayer warriors, please pray hard for us in the next few weeks that we can spring our sister from a facility which has caused much discouragement, little physical and emotional comfort, and untold days of discouragement–that these days and nights of discouragement will soon be over, and that, indeed, for our sister, she may see God’s hand in all this and the smiles will reach her eyes to see that God, indeed has been faithful. She may not see this for a while. Hurt spirits and bodily difficulties are huge mountains, but may she see the benefits of starting over and seeking the joys that indeed await her in her new home. That is my prayer, and I indeed, like David, will rejoice in God’s faithfulness when I reach the other side of the mountain I’m climbing right now.
On another note, this weekend will refresh my spirit. I am attending a seminar, begun last night and continuing this morning, called Express Your Faith led by the awesome evangelist=pastor Randy Pope. Then, tonight and tomorrow I get to volunteer with the Space Coast Symphony and hear my children perform, I get to show my latest book, an anthology of my writing seniors who have become authors as I attend the Space Coast Writer’s Guild meeting this afternoon, and tomorrow we dedicate our new church facility and worship in the beauty of holiness. Then Monday I get to sign the contract for our sister’s new residence, and see the joyful smiles of my fifteen “budding” authors as they receive their copies of “Monday Memoir Moments,” their first published book.
Pray with me that the joys will counterbalance the long hours of despair, almost desperation, and that we can finally say, it was God’s faithfulness and His strength that made all the accomplishments happen, and in time, we will rejoice and His answers to prayer and not the slogging in literal mire, both physical and emotional, we’re treading through right now. Pray with me me that all the details, through His grace and mercy, will fall into place. It may take one or several miracles, but then, so have others in our lives. We just need to rejoice in the joy that comes after difficulties have seemed insurmountable. And that’s the view from here. I will try to be more faithful in writing my blogs. i promise.
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