I’ve decided to add one more day because I have a dear friend that I attended church with for years. She and her husband are model Christians, raised wonderful daughters and are two of the most giving, loving people I know. So, I want to take today and consider Gay and her input on this very important concept. She helped me position the whole concept of learning and growing. Why? She is a retired teacher and really knows how to convey a concept.

In addition to some extreme family stress, she suffered debilitating pain from an illness that caused her to “lose a lot of her health and live in chronic, intense pain all the time. The effects on her physically and mentally took a huge toll over the years.” She had to leave her position as an award-winning teacher and watch her dreams shatter, one by one. Depression jumped on top of her with both feet and did not let up. Yet, in all this Gay has risen from the fiery trials as a spiritual heroine. Why? Let me share an excerpt from her journal:

My desire to govern and manage my own life, whether because of abuse or not, is at the very core of why God must use my pain and suffering to bring me to the place where my shattered dreams intersect with my deep desire for Him. It is through this process that I have the choice of accepting or rejecting the invitation to walk with God through the individually planned “love walks” of custom made pressure. There have been many of these walks where God has mysteriously permitted scenarios of suffering and pain where deep questions evolve, but His provision and purpose for these fiery ordeals is very different than I thought. I now can see more clearly that the purpose for them is to get into the very essence of how much I rely on either Him or myself when my dreams go away and I am in an excruciating, lonely place. Everyone He loves has experienced these dungeon experiences and all have been invited to go on similar “love walks.” Each one of them comes in different forms, but they are all similar in that they are uncomfortable, challenging and out of my control to fix. They require huge personal growth for me to survive and find freedom. After reading Matthew 16:24, I ask myself: “What does it means to take a love walk and follow Him?” I think it means that we can expect and be assured that we will have suffering and pain, but those challenges should in no way prevent us from following Him. The real issue is how we respond to the ‘love walks.”

Gay hit the nail right on the head with her last sentence. The key is how we respond to these times of challenge? Learning during the process is the key to finding joy, happiness and most importantly, gratitude. It’s easy when someone Google’s something for us and we say “Oh!” It is a whole different thing when we are forced to learn the hard way or go through a complicated process to get our answers. Yet, are they not just as, if not MORE important? We certainly remember them longer.

Let’s take Gay’s phrase of “Love walks” and imbed it in our minds and hearts. It can only help us grow in gratitude that we are loved so much that Our Father would invest the time to walk with us until we uncover the right answer.

Love Dad