These past two months have been challenging for our family. As you know, my cousin Andrew was killed suddenly in a car accident the evening of January 20th. Andrew was the son of my Dad's brother and my Mom's sister so our entire family was affected by this. The day before he died we received the news that my Dad's sister, Debbie, had stage four cancer. She passed away from complications after a surgery on February 28th. Dad and Mom were able to fly down to Atlanta for her funeral.
Last Monday we received word that a dear family friend, Pastor Von Allen, had been given only a few days to live. He passed away the next day. Pastor Allen was my Dad's pastor as a teenager, he married Mom & Dad, preformed the funeral of three of my baby siblings, and preached at my eldest brother's graduation. We will miss him greatly.
In the midst of these trials, the Lord has given us a peace and joy that the world cannot know. I read this thought today and decided to share it.
“The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope--and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend up on it) disappoint us.” ― Walter Wangerin Jr.
