Do you love someone walking a hard road?

Are you watching someone you love walk a hard road?

Last night, my husband and I joined many other volunteers to collect 1153 Tiny Trees to be disbursed to kids staying at our local Children’s Hospital.

Our community dropped off so many trees that our local Meals on Wheels and nursing homes will receive some too.

I watched as those dropping off trees, and the many volunteers, were all full of smiles.

Laughter and Christmas music filled the air. A cameraman, helping interview my friend who started the program, even sat his camera down, and began helping to carry trees.

The joy of doing for others was truly contagious.

But, I’m reminded, this contagious joy I observed, was birthed out of a time of lonely, intense suffering.

My friends, who started Tiny Trees, had sat with their daughter day after day, year after year, while she fought childhood cancer. Many times, we would get the prayer request that things were not going well. At one point, my friend fasted for 40 days begging the Lord to save her daughter.

Pain.
Suffering.

And though their daughter did not die, something did seem to die in my friends.

They died to the silly things of this world that so many of us worry about, and learned to set their hearts on the better lasting, things above (Col 3:1-3).

The love of Christ flows through them and impacts others. I saw it again last night.

What’s so very true is how this seems to be the way of many who impact the others for the cause of Christ —their ministries, their joyful spirits, their rock-steady peace has come as they’ve walked the hard roads.

As they died to themselves and held tight to Jesus in their suffering, they seemed to learn how to truly live.

And I bet you know them too.

But I also bet, like me, your heart is breaking, maybe worrying, as you or someone you love is in the middle of a hard road.

What’s really tough is when that person is your child. Most of us, would do anything to prevent our kids from suffering. We would trade places with them in a second.

But, deep down, we know the things we most want for our kids —peace, hope, joy, and an abiding trust in Jesus —are most often birthed through the refining fires of suffering.

May our hearts trust our Lord is at work and loves them more than we do. May we pray to see God bring good from hard situations and pray that those we love would only love Him more as they walk the hard roads.

May we remember, and be encouraged that so often, strong, godly men and women, and amazing ministries are birthed from hard roads. ❤️🙏

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