Two weeks post-op and I can go around!!

The drugs are finally out of my system, the staples were removed this morning and by afternoon I was on a stationary bike at my fitness club with my leg actually going all the way around! I am giving thanks for small steps forward. For me it has been a tough two weeks. Drug withdrawal, knee pain, insomnia, Parkinson's symptoms exacerbated have all combined to throw me into a state of "suffering" I have never before experienced.

 I must admit God has allowed me to live a fairly sheltered life filled with more than my share of joys and comforts. Until now I have never been able to identify with those with chronic pain and other forms of suffering. I also humbly realize there are those who suffer much worse on a daily basis than I can understand or even imagine. Honestly, I used to think one deserves to feel good all the time or at least most of it. After all, we serve a God who heals-right? 

I am currently reading a book about several generations of women. Throughout the book there is a theme that crops up continually: "Joy and suffering come and go, like the ebb and flow." There is truth in that statement yet as a Christian should joy ever leave us? 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says" Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." How could it be God's will for someone to suffer??

 From Romans 12:12 we read " Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  OK, if I patiently pray and am joyfully hopeful will the suffering stop?

Do these questions ever haunt your midnight waking hours or am I the only one? In pondering these questions and going to God with them I have arrived at, for me, a comfortable or for the lack of a better word, suitable explanation. By substituting happiness for joy the phrase: "Joy and suffering come and go, like the ebb and flow" becomes more real. Sometimes we experience happiness and sometimes suffering but joy is the constant undercurrent that NEVER goes away in a Christian's life. 

Jesus brings that joy even when we are hurting. 

Gloria Gaither put it very well, "God walks with us. He scoops us up in HIs arms or simply sits with us in silent strength until we cannot avoid the awesome recognition that yes, even now, He is here."

I personally experienced this truth and have grown spirtually because I know Jesus is Joy personified and is always there wrapping His arms around my shoulders and lending me that necessary tissue!