Laughter In The Rain

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you

face trials of many kinds because you know the testing

of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance

must finish its work so that you may be mature and

complete, not lacking anything."

-James 1:2-4

These are a few of the verses that I have been meditating on for the last 13/14ish months. My brother, Kory, and I started memorizing the book of James last February/March. This last year and a half has been kind of a dark season for me in a lot of ways. I have said countless times that one day this season is going to start making sense and I'm going to start having joy in this journey and this season is going to teach me and I'm going to be better because of this season. Our mantra for this season has been the Lord is good. All the time.

Monday morning I started out on the craziest 30 hour road trip ever. You can find the pictures on facebook. I went on a road trip with my dear, sweet friend Janelle. She was in town visiting family and had to get up to Rockbridge on Monday. So off we went in the pouring rain. 2 1/2 hours into the trip I get a flat tire and we go to change it and we don't have all the tools needed to get the job done. Both of our AAA services have expired. We're stuck. This nice man from Bathe Co., Brian, stops to help us. Not too long after that we stop for lunch and realize that our spare is flat. We go get a new tire and fix the spare. Then get back on the road and get to camp. The trip home, by myself, was just as entertaining. The great thing though was that we (and then I, when I was by myself) were able to laugh the whole way through it! And it wasn't hard. It was so ridiculous and could have been so awful. But in all the things that my life has looked like in the last year and a half this, yes not so fun or convenient, was really not so bad. It was really entertaining - especially with a friend! And it could have been so sucky depending on how I cared to view it.

This road trip was so sweet. Lots of good talks catching up with this dear friend. Lots of laughter with her. Also I got to talk to my brother Monday night and we were talking about things he was able to see/learn in/from the Lord and we were both in tears. Good tears.  So sweet to see the Lord work in and through people that I care about and love so much. I had some sweet time with the Lord in the car on the way home yesterday. In spite of all the things that "went wrong" the Lord still showed up (He always does) and He made himself known.

I had a quick, two minute phone chat with my brother yesterday morning on the side of the road just to say that the Lord is still good. All the time. So true!