8 Years Later...

In November 2004 my health crashed. Every year since then I have looked back, sometimes with anger, sometimes fear, other times with questions or impatience.

I would never have chosen this path of suffering. However, 8 years later I can look back and say that I'm grateful God chose it for me.

I'm still not quite to the end of this E.I. road, but I'm far enough along that I can see the value of the journey. 

Here's the post I wrote about it on my other blog this week. I pray my story will encourage you. Wherever you are on the road, don't give up hope. I believe there is a beautiful place ahead for you. 

God bless you,

-Joanna

A Beautiful Place 

Well, here I am again. Marking another year since my health collapsed in November 2004. Except this year the view is much different! 

Eight years ago my world crumbled and my life journey took a detour I didn't like and didn't understand.

But now all the years of suffering are beginning to make sense.

Wayne Watson has a song that says, 

"Sometimes a rough and a rocky road is gonna take you to a beautiful place."

That's how I feel today. God has brought me on a more difficult road than I ever expected, to a place that is more beautiful than I ever dreamed possible!

In the last year God has done much healing in my body, praise His name! I'm now able to live an almost normal life, (I'm still not able to work yet, so I'm not quite 100% well).

God has given me a new vision for my future. He's leading me to a ministry I never imagined and couldn't have done without experiencing this health trial.

But most of all, God has blessed me with a sweetness in my relationship with Jesus that I can't even express. I love Him so, so, so, so much! Without the suffering of the last eight years, I'd never have experienced this incredible closeness with Him!

I know what it's like to live for years in a painful trial and to wonder, question, doubt, and fear. But now I'm coming out on the other side, and I am amazed at what I see.

God always knows what He's doing. I think His main goal in our trials is transformation. In the midst of suffering we can't always see His good purposes. But He is continually working in us for our good. And as we come to the other side, we begin to realize how different we are now than when we went in. 

"A rough and a rocky road is gonna lead you to a beautiful place." 

That beautiful place may include improved circumstances and enjoyable days. Or it may be in the midst of our circumstances that we arrive at the most beautiful place with God we've ever experienced.

I can't thank God enough for the ways He has changed me in the last eight years. I am eternally grateful for the rough and rocky road He used, so that I could experience the joys of this beautiful place with Him!

"Praise our God, O peoples,
    let the sound of His praise be heard;

He has preserved our lives
    and kept our feet from slipping.

For you, O God, tested us;
    you refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison
    and laid burdens on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and water,
    but you brought us to a place of abundance."

-Psalm 66:8-12