Seeing good in a challenging experience

If you look closely at this photo, you will see that my husband's ear is bandaged. He has skin cancer and had to have part of his ear removed. When he came home from his surgery, I reacted to the medication they put on his incision and ended up living the next week in our garage and trailer. 

Though this was a challenging situation for us, it was also a good time. One of the special moments you see in this photo of my husband and little granddaughter as we spent a morning together. We were also able to enjoy having meals together out on our patio. It was so pleasant to sit together enjoying a soft warm evening as I listened to my husband read a fun story, instead of being inside like we usually are in the evenings. Now that I had to maintain a "social distance" from my husband, I came to appreciate far more how little things like a hug added to my life. 

Is Faith Enough?

Yesterday, I shared how my almost three year old granddaughter said, "I can read now!"  It is wonderful that she is getting some faith in her abilities, but it isn't enough. I just couldn't bring myself to tell her that there are a whole lot of other words to learn besides her name and the word "Look". 

Sure she needed faith, a sure belief that something can happen, so that she would try to read, but that is just the beginning. Now comes the work. You have to keep holding on to your faith even when, especially when,  reaching your goal doesn't come easy. This is called patience.  With patience, you blow away the clouds of discouragement which can obliterate your hope; you can make it through all the setbacks and difficulties, and you can arrive at where you want to be.